Miraculous: The Reverse Harem Mistress
by abodo
Summary: Minako "Hamuko" Arisato. New transfer student to the prestigious Kuoh Academy. People here don't know her, but through her own quirky ways, she finds a place in all the hearts of the weird people in this world. Wait, did I say in this world? Eep! Spoiler aleeeeeeert!
1. Chapter 1

Two young women sat down over a cup of tea. It was just the two of them inside the office of the student council president. It was a rare occurrence as the two normally held their meetings in more _secure_ locations. Namely the detatched building of the Occult Research Club or the sauna bath in the student council president's home. However the matter now was not so grave as it would require that level of privacy between them. The topic was something that concerned only one party and required the second as merely a confidante.

"She's beginning to become a problem.", a slim bespectacled girl sighed as she poured her guest tea. Her stern facial expresion was made more grave by the severe frown she wore.

The girl meant to act as a confidante smiled as she spoke in good cheer, "Come now Sona. She can't be that bad. I'm sure that you are just blowing things out of proportion.".

The student council president called Sona, grumbled as she poured herself some tea as well before sitting down. "I'm not. The student body has made their voices known over and over again. Even the teachers are beginning to sway from my influence. I can't do any more without arousing suspicion or using my demonic powers.". She retrieved a slice of cake from a box and set it on her guest's plate. "They're pushing her to be my successor as the student council president, Rias.".

Brows as red as the confidante's hair arched in skepticism. The girl named Rias lifted the saucer and cup of tea to her lips before speaking, "That's unheard of. For years, Kuoh Academy's student council has been filled out by only the most elite of devils. I was scouted once myself.".

Sona nodded with a bitter bite of her sweet cake. "I know, I was there when they recruited both of us.", a slight smile lifted the corners of Sona's lips, "You refused though.".

Rias nodded, "Yes, I had wanted to form my own organization.".

"Thus how you became the president of the Occult Research Club right?".

A self-satisfied expression was on Rias' face as she reminisced back on that time. "I was fortunate that I had the minimum number of people to act as members. With me, Akeno and Koneko, we were able to operate the club without having it shut down by the school.".

That satisfaction was met with the stern student council president's unimpressed gaze. "That was because Lord Gremory talked with the board of directors and made it so wasn't it? I'm not sure if that situation would qualify for an adaptation into a dramatic slice of life anime about one's youthful school life.", Sona drawled almost boredly.

"Don't mind the details Sona.", Rias smiled good naturedly in the face of her friend's straight-man act to her accidental foolishness. "But still, if what you say is true then she may cause a problem.".

Sona nodded, "She's already considered a shoo-in for my position on the next student council elections and worse, her fanbase has expanded to rival even yours and Akeno's."

"I suppose that is troubling. As much as I loathe being placed on a pedestal, that kind of admiration has allowed me to move more freely. To lose either mine or Akeno's for a more general spotlight might put us into a difficult position."

Sona watched the daughter of house Gremory drink her tea and talk about this as if the problem concerned only her and not the red-head as well. "When I said that her popularity rivaled both your and Akeno's I meant that as both of your approval ratings combined.".

…

"PFFFFFTTTTTT WHAT!?"

Sona Sitri sat in her cushioned chair with the stoniest expression inhumanly possible. Her face and front were dripping with Earl Grey tea. She was not amused in the least about this, but she looked at the silver lining in it all. This would be marked in history as the first time anyone made and saw Rias Gremory, the Crimson Ruin Princess perform a spit take.

* * *

Issei Hyoudou was an excitable young man. He was a lech and a perv and a highschool boy with too much time on his hands. He always had some form of pornography on his person, whether it was a magazine, a video or just a plain old picture. You name it, then he had it. Even if it wasn't porn, he would have something of acceptable substitute such as the risque no clothes or translucent clothes gravure book of an idol.

Ofcourse many girls saw him as disgusting, while a ton of guys were split between staring at him in admiration for doing things they never dared to do, or embarrassment for doing things they would never dare to do. It was a fifty-fifty split and there was no way to tip that scale.

This didn't mean that the young boy was without friends though. Far and wide, in his former all girl's turned co-ed school, the young man had many acquaintances and people who passed him by in the hallways with enough decency to give perfunctory chin juts in his direction. It was sort of gratifying for his ego when people he didn't know did that. Though it did creep him out when that one guy in a magical girl costume complete with sparkle panties did. It was followed up by a wink and blown kiss, but that was a memory he preferred to seal away. Forever.

No, he was not alone in his quest for the soft virgin flesh of women around the world. His lust that knew no depths found kinship in two other young men who shared the same zest for life as he did. They lived and died by the code of porn and would do anything to get laid, except get laid by a prostitute or another guy or an ugly girl or anything not vaguely human. Messed up, yes. But at least they had standards. These two other young men were named Matsuda and Motohama.

Matsuda known as the perverted baldy and the sexual harassment paparazzi, he was a former sports star and a member of the photo club. This dangerous mix makes him one of the most dangerous perverts in all of Kuoh academy. There's nowhere he wouldn't go and nothing he wouldn't do for the perfect fetish shot. His physical prowess attained through years of basic training would bolster his constitution to withstand any danger in getting that one picture, and support him afterwards in escaping the righteous fury of slighted maidens. A self-proclaimed lolicon, this man's depravity has no bounds.

Motohama is known as perverted glasses or the three size scouter. He is a very intelligent young man, but this never reflects on his academic records. That's because he has never applied his, probably, genius levels of intellect into anything constructive. Instead, he honed these analytical skills and turned them into an ungodly technique that would make even those of the blackest souls shake and quiver in fear. True to his alias of three size scouter, Motohama had developed the ability to accurately gauge the bust, waist and hip measurements of any girl down to an error of less than 10 millimeters. The most frightening thing about this technique is the fact that he does not require the girl to be undressed or in a state of near undress. As long as its a girl, he can easily extract her most sensitive information and use it to create an accurate three-dimensional image regardless of whether she's dressed for the hottest of summers on the beach or the coldest of winters in the antarctic. Amongst the three, he is also known as the man with most connections in the porn industry. Genre? Actress? Title? Fetish? Whatever you category, no matter the rarity or even legality, Motohama likely had it all.

Now with this super long-winded bad-ass introduction to these three, you'd expect some sort of epic act of debauchery right about now. The thing is, there wasn't any. It was early in the morning and at around this time, those three would normally be stationed under the stairs to get some good upskirt peeps. However, they were in dire straights. There has never been a situation so bad as to require the three perverts of Kuoh Academy from postponing their activities. Until now.

"We can't do this anymore Matsuda. We have to do something about her.", cried out Issei, his brown spiky hair drooping much like his anxious mood. There were tears in his eyes as he clung to his bald friend. "I can't bring porn without feeling awkward anymore!".

"I can't either!", the bespectacled Motohama bawled as he clung to the other side of Matsuda. "My prized three size scouter has been sealed by her!".

The pervert photographer that was Matsuda pushed both young men aside as he raged, "Don't you dare lay such weak problems on me! I can't even appreciate panchira anymore! I can only take pure-hearted cute moe angle shots.".

"This is unacceptable!", all three wailed out to a very creeped out classroom.

Yes, the three preachers of pornography were indeed, crying it out in their classroom, just a little short of 7 in the morning.

"Well well, I never thought that the perverted trio would finally meet their match, and to a girl no less."

"Shut up Kiryuu!", Matsuda shouted with tears in his eyes.

"That's right! You don't know how we feel!", Issei followed suit.

"How would you feel if you lost your ability to analyze men?", Motohama fired back.

Kiryuu Aika felt a large drop of sweat roll down the back of her head. She watched the antics of these three before sighing in exasperation. "That would kind of suck I guess.", she shrugged, "I mean things would be more boring but I could live without it.".

"Blasphemy! Blasphemy of the highest order!", screamed Motohama, aghast at the sacrilegious account of his classmate and fellow anatomy analyst.

"Oh just chill out will you? All of your specialties stop working on just one person right? Why not just move on to someone else?".

"That's the problem!", Issei gesticulated wildly with his hands. "We can't!".

"She keeps showing up whenever we do something!", Matsuda threw his hands down with a hiss.

"Are you sure?", Aika asked with a skeptical raise of an eyebrow.

"Ofcourse we're sure. It's been happening for months.", Issei answered as-a-matter-of-factly. He furrowed his brows and crossed his arms in a thinking pose. "Has she been here for months?".

Matsuda gave his brunette friend a look of disbelief. "She transferred here three weeks ago.", the buzz cut baldy drawled.

"Oh god.", Issei shrank back in horror. "Porn withdrawal has taken away my sense of time!".

"I don't know guys. Maybe you just have a crush on her or something.", reasoned the braide glasses girl.

"Crush?", Matsuda started.

"Us?", Issei followed.

"On her?", Motohama pointed to a ponytail brunette girl who was talking with two other more shapely girls.

"Ack! It's her!", the three perverts chorused when they realized that the person they were dreading over was present.

"Hm?", the brown-haired girl turned her attention from the other girls before her to see what the fuss was about with the guys. "What're you guys talking about? You were pointing in my direction.".

There was no malice nor suspicion in her tone. It was utterly friendly and easy to speak with. She didn't look at them like they would jump her any second either. She just... smiled.

They couldn't take that kind of treatment from women.

As much as they had long wished for it, their hearts just weren't ready. What kind of treatment you may ask? The kind that treats you as an equal.

This brown-haired girl that Issei and his friends were terrified of was named Arisato Minako, but everyone just called her Hamuko because of the distinctive sound she makes when eating. Everyone in the whole school knew it by heart because her appetite apparently echoes throughout the school. Her bottomless gut, so legendary, even the most hardcore gourmands and face-stuffers fell to her superior eating capabilities.

Seriously, where does she keep it all?

Despite all that insane eating rumors, the girl was quite slim. She was quite the confident girl but found that the bodice vest with no breast covering was a bit much. She stated that it wasn't made for a body like hers Instead she just wore her cotton shirt plainly, Kuoh was loose on rules like that. Her skirt, unlike the other girls, was also longer. It covered all the way just past the knee. By everyone else's standards, it was scandalously long. Everyone knew school girls wear their skirts just mid-thigh. No exceptions should've been allowed. But maybe through some sort of sheer grace of goodness, the upper echelons of the school board had allowed her that little freedom. Under normal circumstances, school rules should've been contested to make school uniforms even more outrageously scandalous. Not this one, it was like putting up an anti-murder bill for discussion.

Enough about the regale of this wondrous Mary Sue character. Let's go back to what was going on.

"No, nothing!", the young men yelled in chorus.

"Then why were you pointing at me?", Hamuko clasped her chin in a thinking pose. Her brow was scrunched up in a furl of thought.

"Don't pay them too much attention Hamuko-chan.", the busty form of one strawberry blonde Katase approached from behind Hamuko.

"That's right.", chest-nut ponytail Murayama followed in step. "You might catch something weird from them.".

"Don't worry. Stupidity isn't contagious.", Hamuko cheerily chirped to her female friends. The smile turned into a little frown though when she added, "I think...".

"Oh no!", Katase recoiled in horror. "She's already been infected!", she wrapped her arms around Hamuko from the side.

Murayama nodded as she protectively mirrored the action from the other side.. "Quickly, we must quarantine her.".

"Oi, don't treat us like we have the plague.", Matsuda angrily shook his fist at the girls.

Hamuko squirmed her way out of the girls' grasp. "I'm sorry Matsuda-kun. I'm sure Murayama-chan and Katase-chan don't mean badly by it.".

With just those words and that look. That apologetic tilt of the head, Matsuda was forced to eat his words and withdraw into himself. "I-If that's the case th-then I can forgive that.", he stuttered out with a luminescent flush.

"Ohoooo", Aika Kiryuu observed this interestedly.

Matsuda shot her a glare, "Sh-shut up!".

"Anyway.", Minako spoke up again, an apologetic look on her face as she stood stock still while the two girls at her sides were trying to push her away from the perverts. To no avail though, she was as solid as a rock. Maybe even more solid. "Why was Motohama pointing at me?".

Everybody involved in the chaotic conversation turned their eyes to the perverted guy with the glasses. To his credit, he tried to look for someone else to pin the burden of explaining this mess on. Didn't change his situation though.

Motohama swallowed a lump that was forming at his throat when he opened his mouth to speak. "Well- um... err... you see- I me-".

"Ah!", the subject of his problem interjected. "I forgot about the art club's request for a full body sketch of a female. It was supposed to be a basis for a sculpture."

"Is she sitting or standing?", Motohama instinctively followed up.

"Standing.", Hamuko answered.

"Body type."

"Body type?"

"I mean is she petite? Athletic? Busty? Curvy?"

"O-oh. S-Slim. There has to be distinct womanly curves but she's supposed to be slim.", Hamuko answered, unsure where this line of questioning was going.

Motohama stood still and ran his eyes over the whole classroom. To everyone else, he was just taking a quick look around. To him, it was a world of wire like frames and numbers floating about in his head. Judging the ideal size, weight, shape and overall structure of the ideal woman. He reached into his bag and pulled out his notebook. Ran his pencil over a page for a few minutes before tearing it off for Hamuko to take.

"Uh...", the girl was unsure what was being given to her.

The young man shook the piece of forced stationary impatiently. She took it in her hands and spread it out to get a look at what it was. Everyone else joined in to look over her shoulder or right by her arm.

"Whoa!", was the collective gasp. They all looked at Motohama again with judging eyes.

He returned the gaze by throwing his hands up in surrender, "What?".

"This.", Hamuko held the piece of paper up to show him. "This is amazing.", she said it with awe in her voice.

Motohama didn't think so and scratched the back of his neck before looking away. On the piece of paper was drawn a picture of a naked woman. That was to be expected of a pervert like Motohama. Any aspiring mangaka worth their salt could draw nude doujinshi at any given time but what Motohama drew was different. It was a detailed full body portrait. There were no sketch marks, just pure lines and curves in drawing the details and highlights. There were even dimensions written for each part. It was less like a drawing and more like a blueprint of a woman.

…

"That is seriously creepy.", Katase pointed out.

"Mhm.", Muryama nodded from her side.

"Creepy or not. I like it.", Hamuko declared with dazzling smile. She directed said smile to the bashful bespectacled boy in his seat. "Can I give this to the art club?", she asked with a hopeful tint to her voice.

Motohama looked at anywhere but her. Yet he mutely nodded his response.

"Awesome!", Hamuko ran up and threw her arms around the boy excitedly. "I owe you one. How about I buy lunch today?", she looked at everyone present, "Why don't we all hang-out then?".

The two non-muted members of the perverted trio and the representatives of their perversion's collective victims both gave each other looks before turning back to Hamuko.

"Okay.", both groups said at once.

Matsuda looked annoyed as he started up, "I thought you didn't want to hang-out with us?". He shot the question to the two females opposite himself.

"If it's for Hamuko, we can take anything.", Murayama declared and Katase was right beside her nodding vehemently in agreement. "Even if it means putting up with your leers and photo ops at our panties.". Katase was still nodding but suddenly stopped as her eyes bugged out. She quickly shook her head rapidly at the realization of Murayama's promise.

"Tch.", Matsuda grumbled, looking away. "Like I'd be interested in your panties.".

"Ghk!", Murayama and Katase were taken aback. It was like hell suddenly froze over. Matsuda was giving up a chance to perv on real live girls? The two couldn't believe it. It was one of things the whole female population of Kuoh was waiting for but lost all hope of occurring.

The chestnut brunette placed her hands akimbo as she angrily counter declared, "It's not like we were planning to show them in the first place!.". With that she stomped away with the same indignant rage in each step as each word she spoke.

Katase gave the boys one last glare before turning back to her new transferee friend. "We'll see you at lunch then Hamuko.", the smile turned to the shirt brunette was clear.

"Definitely.", the food-loving girl reassured Katase. She waved lightly, watching as the busty girl reunited with the chest-nut ponytail girl.

She took one look at the drawing in her hands again. Hamuko gave the perverted trio a nod, "See you at lunch. I have to get this to the art room.".

Issei looked to a Matsuda that seemed like he was in bad but thinking mood, while Motohama was completely shut down in his seat. The young man turned to the waiting classmate. "We'll be waiting.".

Hamuko's smile blossomed, "That's great!". The polite girl gave one last wave. She dashed right out the classroom door as the warning bell rung. "See you then!".

Issei nodded, watching her run off. "See you then.", he said to nobody in particular.

"Heeh. That's interesting.", Aika observed as the she watched the brunette girl run out the door. She turned her eyes to Issei with a snicker, "So only two of the perverted trio are stuck on the new transfer student. Then again I'm surprised that they'd fall for anyone seriously at all.".

Issei snuck a peek at his two friends. Matsuda was still brooding, Motohama was now bright pink in the face. "Yeah.", he sighed dejectedly. "At this rate, it'll be the end of our perverted triad.".

Aika nodded in agreement, "Shame. You guys were always so entertaining.". She scrunched up her face in thought and tapped a finger to her cheek. "But still, it makes me wonder.", the girl in braided pigtails hummed. "How come you weren't affected?", she pointedly asks Hyoudou.

The young pervert was taken aback by the question. That quickly changed to one of indignation when he came back his reprisal. "Who do you think I am? I'm the man who's gong to become a harem king! I don't have time for such stupid things as serious relationships.".

That look of conviction on Hyoudou's face made Aika wonder if she should praise him, or pity him. "Well whatever the case.", she began with a gesture to the two other young men. "I guess these two's days of debauchery are over.".

Motohama took a glance at Aika' and roared in annoyance, "Why? Why can I tell Kiryuu's bust size down to the millimeter but get nothing at all from Arisato? Is it because she's cute? It has to be because she's cute! Her moe level is just too damn high!".

Matsuda suddenly walked up to Aika and pulled out his phone. The sound of an exaggerated camera click cam from the mobile device despite having no proper subject for it to be pointed at other than the floor. Issei went to see what that was all about and was surprised at the crystal clear image of Aika's panties reflected off the polished wooden floor.

"Matsuda. That's amazing.", Issei praised in awe.

"Tch.", the bald young men flipped his phone shut. "This is meaningless.", Matsuda clutched his phone tightly. "For it to work on someone only Kiryuu's level of a supporting character. It's meaningless! She did't even get a descriptive introductory parag- Gbuh!".

Aika retrieved her fist from Matsuda's face and stiffly apologized, "Well sorry for being only on this level of a supporting character.".

Behind Aika, Issei saw Motohama's body was hanging off the back rest of his chair with soul steadily floating up into the air.

This was going to be a long day.

* * *

Lunch time rolled around and the students of Kuoh Academy all believed that it was high time for a break from all of their boring lectures. They had an hour to do just that. Students filled the halls and teachers were quick to leave for the lounge where either the school aleady had food serviced or their beloved home cooked lunchbox was waiting for them. Students were much the same way when it came to lunch boxes, but there was one small difference. Students had to look for a good place to spend their lunch.

On normal occasions, there would be no problems for students to take their lunch inside the classroom. Others liked to gather with friends and go to more scenic places like the school fountain, the sports field, the gardens, or maybe even the roof. For Kiba Yuuto, he was inadvertently evicted from his classroom by the massive number of girls trying to shove their home made lunch down his throat. It was not normal for him to leave the confines of that room to eat but for once he wanted to ditch the groupies and enjoy the meal he cooked for himself.

Somehow he'd managed to lose the large crowd. They were fighting amongst themselves, last he heard their commotion. Hopefully that would keep them occupied for awhile, providing none of them got hurt.. Kiba sighed, sometimes he felt like he was just too nice a guy. Woman always crowded him ever since he got into Kuoh Academy. He knew he was fairly good looking but those girls acted like he was the only guy in the whole campus. To be fair, these were some seriously slim pickings for a co-ed school since it started out as an all-girl's boarding school. But he wasn't saying that every other guy was no goo-

"Doh.", the blonde young man groaned with his head in his empty hand. It was really tough to reconcile how he felt with how he wanted to feel.

"Ah, Yu-Yuuto-kun!", the oddly high-pitched voice of one surprised Tsubaki Shinra pierced his depressed thoughts.

The blonde took one look at the familiar long-haired girl and smiled, "Tsubaki-san.". He gave her a small bow in greeting, "Where is Sona-san? You rarely spend time away from her on these leisure hours.".

Tsubaki took a second to compose herself. She coughed away the odd constriction of her throat to answer in a lower register, "Sona-sama and Rias-san are in a private meeting. I was tasked to see to the matters of the student council.".

Kiba nodded in understanding, "It must be difficult. Having to balance your studies, student council work, along with your duties as a devil. I'm lucky enough that my club work and my devil duties are one and the same.".

The vice-president of the student council shook her head in the negative, "No. Things have actually been much easier lately.".

"Oh?"

"Yes.", Tsubaki nodded to reiterate her point. She raised a hand to single out a lone student with her long slender finger. "Look.".

Yuuto followed the direction and his gaze locked on to the running form of a brunette girl. She was carrying a stack of boxes and was stopped by a sandy-haired young man. It looked like he was giving her a lecture of some sort before taking the boxes from her arms to help.

"If I'm not mistaken that's...".

"Arisato Minako-san.", Tsubaki nodded. "She's been very active since her entrance to our school a few weeks ago. I hear she's helped resolve conflicts and requests from various students, both individual and club.".

"Aah", Yuuto nodded in understanding, "She's quite the busybody then. I've only ever heard about her exploits in the cafeteria.".

"Oh, then you know about last week?", Tsubaki gave the young man a look of worried embarassment.

Kiba laughed good-naturedly at the anxiety on his companion's face. "Who wouldn't when the whole school was rumbling with chants of 'Ha-mu-ko! Ha-mu-ko!'?", he watched the student council sub-leader's face fall in defeat before he ammended with, "Though it was impressive, how fast the student council broke up that large impromptu soba-tempura eating battle. I heard that the casualties were legendary.".

Tsubaki shook her head, "She put away enough food to make 10 men pass out. Literally.". Tsubaki touched a cool hand to her forehead, feeling the beginnings of a migraine coming on. "6 seniors, 2 PE teachers, a teacher and one of the lunch line people ate in succession. She beat them all.".

"That should be legendary.", Kiba eyed the anxious Tsubaki with a mix of pity and skepticism.

"To make things worse, the students have been beginning to petition for her to be the next student council president.".

"That doesn't sound so bad.", a voice joined into the conversation.

Yuuto turned to the newcomer and greeted the familiar face with a smile, "Good day to you Akeno-san.".

"Good day.", the beautiful raven-haired senior, known as the number 2 of the great ladies of Kuoh. She smiled back with equal parts mischief and amusement. Tsubaki was already sweating under her knowing gaze.

Kiba turned from the older girl to a younger one who stood just beside the senior in stark contrast. A small body that made one think of a child than a woman, and eyes a stark silvery white. "Hello there Koneko-san.".

The smaller girl nodded with as much emotion as an electric post and nodded with a similar stony countenance, "Hello.". In contrast to her less than expressive actions, she was holding on to a cat in both hands. That in itself was enough to melt away the cold aura surrounding her into something more warm and flowery.

The effect was doubled if one looked close enough to realize the cat was asleep. She cradled it with great care, as if a mother would her babe.

Done with formalities, Akeno continued her previous statements. "I don't see what's so bad about letting Arisato-san join the student council.".

Tsubaki shook her head, "Akeno-san, you know full well that the student council is completely comprised of devils. All of them devils under Sona-sama's peerage no less.".

"Well why not turn her into one? A devil.", the senior pressed on. "She might turn out to be something rather incredible don't you think? And besides, we can't keep holding on to these positions we have. Things always change in the human world.".

"That is true.", Tsubaki conceded, "but for now, we prefer things the way they are. If we surrender out position now, it will be difficult to move as a group without being noticed as odd by the general populace. Surely you must understand that with you Occult research club and your threatened position as the second most desirable female in school.".

"Oho?", Akeno widened her narrow gaze into something with a frightening resemblance to a patient of a mental hospital. "Second most desirable?", she questioned icily.

"I don't think that's what you should be focusing on.", Kiba worryingly tried to calm his senpai's cold fury.

"Right below Rias-san ofcourse.", Tsubaki unknowingly added whole tree trunks to this smokeless bonfire.

"Yes, yes. I understand.", Akeno nodded in her best impression of pleasantry. "I'm just confused about what you mean when you say that position is under threat.".

The vice-president of the student council shrugged, "I've been hearing rumors that Arisato Minako's following has grown larger than both yours and Rias-san's individually. It's even beginning to eclipse both of yours combined.".

"Oh my.", a frighteningly angry Akeno was now covering her mouth in surprise. That or the colorful choice of words she was silently miming right now.

Insensitive to the impending doom she was unleashing on an unsuspecting girl, Tsubaki continued on, "They say that her popularity rose through word of mouth and witness to her helpful actions.".

"Is that so?", Kiba asked.

"Yes. She's incredibly likable and well-spoken. She's helped me with talking down troublemakers a number of times.".

"Then I should probably speak with her some time.", Akeno continued to speak with covered mouth.

"Are you having trouble with some delinquents?", Tsubaki asked in concern.

"Perhaps.", the raven-haired senior answered cryptically.

"With your strength, I find that hard to believe.".

"Ufufufu, I'm a delicate defenseless flower.", Akeno sang as she walked away to look for her target.

"No, that's definitely not the case.", Yuuto commented. He watched the black-haired lady of Kuoh leave and noticed that her white-haired companion remained behind. "Oh right.", Yuuto suddenly thought to ask. "What's with the cat Koneko-san?".

The stoic girl looked at the little one in her arms then at Yuuto. She presented it to him and said, "Awhile ago. Hamuko was helping me and Akeno-san feed him."

School heart throb Kiba Yuuto suddenly felt the incredible need to slam his face against the wall. "So you just came from talking to her?", the young man asked in disbelief.

Koneko nodded, once more properly cradling the cat. "Akeno-san was hapy to talk to her.".

Yuuto sighed, "At least we can be confident she won't do anything bad to a civilian.".

Tsubaki held her chin pensively, "But bad could mean differently to Akeno-san.".

The young man in the group asked in turn, "What do you mean?".

Tsubaki Shinra stood up straight and pointed in the air with a conjecture in mind, "Isn't Akeno-san interested in things like BDSM?".

…

"This could be bad.", said a pale Yuuto.

* * *

"Psst... get over here. Quick!"

"Shhhh... not so loud. She might hear us."

"She can't possibly be here can't she?"

"In all our history of trying to slip past her, when has she not been here?"

"Never?"

"Exactly!"

The voices of three young men hissed about in a bush. The foliage around them providing excellent cover for their covert operation. Their attempts thus far in the last 15 tries have turned up to be nothing but dismal failures. All the fault of one thing and one thing only.

"Hello boys."

_Her..._

"Oh my fucking god!"

"Don't curse out god. That's probably the reason he stuck us with her!"

"Just run for your lives!"

"Do you really think we could outrun her?"

"We can try."

"And what in our history with her makes you think we stand a chance?"

"...nothing?"

"Exactly!"

Quick as the wind, and silent as the trees a girl passed them by in a blink. She held her broomstick with the ferocity of fire, her form as magnificent as a mountain. Like one of those old corny samurai flicks, the three young men behind her fell dramatically onto the ground.

She turned to their fallen forms with a small smile and a sigh, "Really boys. Do you ever learn?".

"Dammit Matsuda. I told you this was a bad idea.", Motohama grumbled from where he lay.

"We had to regain our honor somehow."

"I don't think peeking on the kendo club will do anything good for your honor.", sighed Hamuko.

"Yes it does! As perverts, we have to do something perverted or else we'll be nothing more than hormonal teenagers.", the bald teenager yelled with conviction.

Hamuko walked up to him and bent down to his fallen form, "I'm not sure where to begin in correcting you on that.".

"Agh! No! Go away! It hurts. It hurts. It burns my eyes!", Matsuda immediately started convulsing and screaming when the girl stood by his head.

Hamuko tilted her head in confusion, "What's the problem? Is there something wrong?"

"I have a full view up your skirt!", Matsuda nearly spat out as he foamed at the mouth.

"I thought you'd be happy to have a look see.", Hamuko winked impishly at the fallen young man.

"Not when you're wearing shorts over your panties."

"That- That's just cruel.", Issei groaned from the other side of the carnage.

"Tease!", screamed Motohama. "Just because you're cute doesn't mean we'll forgive you. We swear we'll have your panties in our hands someday.".

"I think that counts as sexual assault. Shall I call 110 right now?".

"N-no!", all three chorused in defeat.

"Good.", Hamuko smiled in delight.

Afternoon and after class, all of Kuoh Academy was bustling with energy. Student preparing to go home, students making plans with their friends, and students going to their respective clubs. But there were some students who were the exception. One of them was the group known as the perverted trio. Normally, at this time, they would be girl watching at the tennis club or the kendo club. On occasion, they sometimes even hit the girls' lockers directly. But that schedule rapidly changed upon the arrival of the new transfer student.

Some girls had been complaining about perverts and this new transferee had promised them she would do something about it. Nobody believed her at first, and her attempts to stifle their personal peep shows had been hit or miss at best. It was during their fourth attempt since her transfer that the new girl completely shut out the legendary perverts. She blocked them at every turn. It was then that the new girl's reputation rose at an exponential pace. She had done something which no one ever could. The girl lamented over the fact she could not reform these young men, but she achieved something that no other human in Kuoh Academy could boast of. She had the upper-hand in restraining the perverted trio. It was a most momentous occasion for girls everywhere in Kuoh Academy, which was basically everywhere in Kuoh Academy. Even some of the more youthful female teachers were quite thankful they no longer had to put up with being harassed by the three in and out of class.

So where does that leave us now?

Well just awhile ago, Hamuko had succeeded in foiling their plans once again. Right now, she was cutting through the sports fields with Matsuda, Motohama and Issei's sorry carcasses in tow. She dragged them through the dirt and the grass with little regard for their comfort nor regard for how little trouble it was taking her to pull the combined weight of three teen-aged boys without breaking a sweat. This point is further emphasized by her humming a tune cheerfully.

The sight is strange to be sure, but nowadays, it was common. Every sports club active on the various fields right now had a good view of the perverts being pulled by the scruff of their necks back to the infirmary. It was amazing the first few times they saw it, but eventually that novelty wore off. Many girls had cheered then, some even fell to their knees and cried in jubilation. Now, all the females did was work harder when they saw those young men being restrained by their savior. Because of her, they could now resume their daily lives without fear of having pictures of their panties taken. Yes, it was the least they could do in honor of Arisato Minako.

* * *

Kuoh Academy was a school colored primarily in blues and whites with the occasional gold trimming. Whether that gold was real plating or just some seriously good paint job, was left up to anyone's guess. Still, there was something about the sunset dying it red that brought out its beauty all the more. The vermilion sunset would cast its dying light on the trees and made it seem like autumn had come early. It was a most romantic scene if you were into that kind of thing.

Genshirou Saji wasn't. Maybe at some point he was, extremely infatuated with a certain girl as he had been. Times change though and so do people. He'd mellowed out some and decided to take his life more seriously. Not top of the class, but his grades were looking up from before. Average to above average, not worth celebrating, but worth noting. He had more friends, superficial as they may seem but friends nonetheless. The whole world seemed brighter now for this young man who had just lived his days on a single continuous boring note.

And to think all this without some sort of earth shattering event that would have either ended with him dead, dying, turned into something not human, or otherwise change his perception on what normal should be. You know, like in all those shonen manga he collects in his room. It was almost an hour after school had let out, and he'd just finished some errands he'd promised to help some people in class with. And no, he wasn't the class representative, he just helped out a lot.

A familiar face ran down the hall he was just passing. A grin spread on his face as he raised a beckoning hand with a holler, "Hey, Minako.".

The girl in question jumped up and slammed on the breaks. The noise her loafers made as they skid violently against the polished would was amazing. You could mistake it for a burn-out event in some auto-show.

She stopped just a few inches short of the young man and raised her own hand in greeting. "He-hey Sa-sa-saji.", Minako panted out. Her sunny disposition not marred at all by the sweat glistening off her face and neck. Instead it gave her this sort of youthful appeal, like she was having the time of her life in sports club. Ironic since she never joined one despite all the begging she had to reject.

"Running through the halls again I see.", Saji humphed with a triumphant smirk on his face. He had his arms crossed over his chest for effect. "Didn't I tell you back at lunch that you shouldn't run in the hallways?".

Minako's smile dropped along with her hand as her whole body sagged with a sad, "Yes.".

Satisfied that she knew better, he decided to ask, "So what's the hurry this time?".

"Ah!", Minako started up, "I have to go get my bag. I'm almost late for work at 24/7."

Saji sighed at her antics. He placed one calming hand on her shoulder, "You mean we're almost late for work at 24/7.".

Somethng clicked in Minako's mind then she hit her open palm with the bottom of her fist. "You're right.", she looked at him blankly. It quickly turned back into her sunny smile, "I keep forgetting we work the same shift now.".

"Same shop.", Saji corrected, "I just started five days ago. I'm not surprised you forget with everything that you do.". The young man straightened up and gestured an offer to walk the girl to her classroom. "Our shift doesn't start until 5. It's just a little past 4 now, we can make it with time to spare.".

"Oh. Okay.", Minako took the boy up on the unspoken offer.

They fell in step almost immediately. The hallways echoed their steps in soft hypnotic beats.

"So.", Saji began to speak, hoping to kill some of the monotony. "Where were you at? Playing the good samaritan again?".

Minako laughed, "You could say that.".

Laughter erupted from the young man. A knowing grin twisted his mouth upwards. "So you gave those perverts what for huh? What does that make it? Like... the 19th time?".

The girl waved off the guess with a laugh of her own. "Nah, more like the 18th actually.".

"You must really like those guys.", Saji pointed out, "You keep them out of trouble and you still hang out with them.".

"Ofcourse. That's what friends do.", the transferee frowned at her friend.

"Well yeah.", Saji conceded, "But I didn't think guys who indulge in pornography every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every year would be the type girls would make friends with.".

"That's true.", Minako nodded non-chalantly. She looked him straight in the eye with a gentle smile on her face, "When you've transferred as many times as I have though, you tend to meet all sorts of people. Some good, some bad and some just plain weird.". Minako giggled at the end.

"So where do I fall under?", Saji asked in curiosity.

"Good.", Minako quipped mysteriously. Her smile turning sly as it reached her eyes.

Saji raised a questioning brow to accept it with a skeptical, "Oookay...".

They stopped in front of Minako's classroom. Saji reached out to open the sliding door since he was closer.

A thought occurred to him as his fingers grasped the handle on the wooden barrier. "Wait.", he looked at her curiously. "Does that make the three bad or weird?", he pulled open the sliding door.

Minako laughed lightly at the question. She stepped past him while speaking, "I don't know Saji. I haven't decided yet. They might be bad, they might be weird. Or they might be both.".

The young man watched the transferee reach her seat. His question remained unanswered but he had another one that couldn't wait its turn. "Wait so they can fall under both?".

Soft laughter flitted about in the room, "Ofcourse, and so can you.".

"Me? So what does that make me? Good-bad or good-weird?".

"I don't know.", Minako shrugged as she exited the room with bag in hand. "I haven't decided yet.", she teased Saji with a childish raspberry before running away.

Confusion was painted on Saji's face before he finally got the hint with annoyance. He slammed the door close and ran after her with amused shouts.

Good-bad or good-weird? He didn't really care. The fact he was good was already enough.

* * *

It was close to 6 P.M when Hyoudou Issei was finally discharged from the infirmary. He was utterly exhausted, so much that he couldn't spare the strength to leer at the insanely sexy nurse their school had. Woe were his days of lacking in sexual appetite. He grumbled under his breath. "It's all because of that blasted Hamuko. If it weren't for her, I'd have a nice view of some really nice boobies.", the young man shook his fist to the heavens.

Complaining wouldn't change anything though. Maybe he could go home and watch porn. Maybe then he could see some nice boobs in peace. Yes, just like the pair waiting to burst out of the uniform in front of him

…

Wait what!?

"Hyoudou Issei-san!", a cute girl wearing the uniform of another school stood in front of Hyoudou Issei. "Would you please go out with me?", she practically screamed with a sharp bow.

Stunned, Issei said the one word that came most naturally in a situation like this.

"Huh?".

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Ah, something that I've been wanting to get out of my system even before Eyes to the World. I wanted to write something that didn't involve fantastical things, that was the idea of this chapter. I wanted to highlight the quirks of various characters from what I read on wikia while I added some quirks I think would fit with their characters. Despite being gag characters, I didn't want them all to be some sort of one trick pony or just there as comedic plot devices. Hopefully I was successfully able to add to the characters without destroying what they really are.

Thanks for reading. See you in my next work.


	2. Chapter 2

He stood there, uncomfortable, hand resting on his belly and cold sweat falling from his pores. It was all he could do to stay standing as his guts and innards decided to play a game of twister with the limited hues of human flesh. Then again, Issei Hyoudou could not think so articulately, right now all he could say was that asshole who described first date jitters as "butterflies in your stomach" was a total liar. To the young man, it felt more like torture, what with the waiting in the middle of a busy shopping district and sweating up a swimming pool's worth of salt. More than his stomach pains, Issei Hyoudou was also constantly hyper aware of himself, his clothes, his hygiene, his smell and the state of his clothing. He couldn't stay still at all and had to check on them every five seconds. As for his date plan, he was retracing every step, every second he could spare not smelling his pits or resisting the kneejerk reflex to head for the bathroom. It would be pretty lame for a guy like him to make his date wait after all.

On the topic of his date, Issei's face quickly went into goofy lech mode. All mellow with enlarged nostrils, droopy eyes and a lop-sided grin that left his jaw wide open. It was that kind of face you want to punch, no matter whose face it was. Couldn't blame him though, he was going out on a hot date. A hot first date to be precise.

The girl he was meeting today was cute but shapely. With a height a whole head less than himself, breasts he couldn't hold in one hand, waist so narrow he could hold her in one arm and hips that could spit out kids no problem. She had a cute face to boot. A real knock-out if he ever saw one. As mysoginistic as those descriptions sound, he was honestly praising her. Never before had he been so smitten with a single female. None of the girls he'd seen before could ever compare. She was perfection incarnate with fair peach tanned skin and ebony black hair.

Though all this fantastical outlook of her could likely be a consequence of being the first and only girl to have ever asked him out... Nah.

Working past the pain, the young man clenched his fist and stared hard at the closed fingers. He gathered his determination and strength in them before hitting himself on his left pectoral. A silent roar of self-encouragement cried out in his heart as he did the metaphorical equivalent of injecting confidence in himself. This was his time. He would take a girl out on a date, make her happy and get to third base before the night was over. He would obtain a memento of the day and he would prove to his so-called partners in perversion that his girlfriend wasn't fake in any sense of the word.

Issei remembered the morning he proudly shared news of his relationship to his friends. It was a clear blue sky much like today.

* * *

"Hey! Matsuda! Motohama!", Hyoudou called out to his two friends.

The two were marching listlessly. Understandable given how early it was in the morning. The roads on the way to Kuoh were still sparse when the duo were flagged down by the third man of their triad. Matsuda, ever the de-facto leader, took it upon himself to answer for the two of them.

"Yo Issei." The bald teen raised a hand in greeting before using it to cover up the yawn forcing his mouth agape.

Issei paused midstep in his approach when he saw the state the two were in. "What happened to you?", he looked between the two co-perverts of his.

Matsuda was nowhere near as chipper as he should be. He was slouching forward with one hand casually in his pocket. There was a somber air about him that Issei couldn't put his finger on but something really bothered him about that stance. It was too cool! Too suave! Was this person really Matsuda? He was by no means a bishonen, but he was really rocking that aura.

Trailing behind was a worn out Motohama. The glasses wearing teen wasn't nearly as confidence exuding in his walk like Matsuda was but there was a certain way he was hunching. It wasn't like the cool guy hunch that Matsuda had, more like a dead tired walk. In no way was it disturbing or disgusting like the normal though. The way his head was bobbing up instead of dipping down, fighting to stay awake. It wasn't the gait of a slacker but instead the determined walk of a hardworker! He was mumbling under his breath with no attention being spared to neither Issei nor Matsuda. He looked so engrossed in his mumbling that it wasn't far off to guess that he wasn't walking with his bald compatriot but rather walking as his feet remembers the route.

Seeing as Motohama was in no condition to answer, Issei decided to bank on the baldy pervert. Matsuda did not disappoint as he spoke after a lengthy yawn. "Not much, just went through some of my old works last night. Got me sleeping later than I normally do.".

"Whoa." Issei voiced in surprise. Matsuda sleeping later than usual? This is the guy who makes good use of his porn magazines until well unto dawn. And by saying something like old works, he should be referring to... "You were looking back on all your past conquests?" Issei asked with a knowing grin. They were pictures of girls Matsuda had taken since middle school. Issei had been shown a small sample of them and each was in some state of undress one way or the other. Even if they were fully clothed, the angles were always perfect to capture voyeurtastic material.

Matsuda's mouth turned into a thin line before he nodded, "Yeah."

That dropped the smile off Issei's face. The brunette stumbled back, Matsuda had this intense expressin on his face. Like he was thinking real deep or something. It wasn't like the easy-going baldy pervert at all. Hyoudou turned his gaze to the bespectacled Motohama in hopes that he wasn't infected with whatever it was eating at Matsuda. Thankfully for Issei's inner pervert, his fellow lech showed no signs of this odd serious behavior as the one known far and wide as the Three Size Scouter was mumbling measurements under his breath. To be precise, he was mumbling the sacred numbers of a woman's three sizes.

"92-56-78, Akira Mitsumiya. 82-52-80, Sanae Kadowa-" Issei heard Motohama mutter and he realized that the bespectacled young man was reciting the measurements of celebrities. The two he bothered two he recognized precisely as idols who are well late into their teens. But somewhere in there Hyoudou recognized some adult video actresses being mentioned as well.

This wasn't bad like with Matsuda but it was certainly bizarre. What was wrong with their MVP? Most valuable pervert. They needed him to identify which were hits or misses during girl watching! Beyond the capacity to see the exact sizes of girls with that feaed three size scouter, Motohama had the uncanny ability to tell girls with padding and plastic surgery from those who had neither. Though Kuoh in itself had girls born with natural beauty by the dozen, there were still those few who got by purely on make-up. By their standards, that was unacceptable!

"Hey Motohama." Issei tried to break his friend out of the self-induced spell. "You in there buddy?", he raised one hand and waved it in front of the glare blocked lenses of the young man.

The bespectacled boy easily slapped away the hand in a mock dismissive gesture. He rolled his eyes; despite others not being able to see. "Yes Issei, I'm here." came the grouchy response.

A beat of tense silence followed after that rather bitter sounding remark; then laughtererupted between the young men. "Sorry 'bout that Issei. Rought night, seeing as what we dealt with a few hours prior to hitting the hay.", Matsuda reasoned to his friend with that idiot grin you'd normally see on him.

"Ugh. Yeah, that Hamuko.", Motohama rubbed at his belly. The lad probably still felt the phantom pains from that time. "I swear she gets deadlier and deadlier with that broom of hers every time we see her.".

"Tell me about it.", Issei grumbled alongside them. Before the somber mood could settle, Issei remembered the reason why he called out to his friends earlier besides the normal morning commute to school. "Hey guys!" he excitedly called the attention of his friends.

Matsuda saw the hopped up look on Issei's face and proppred up a brow. "What's up?", he asked.

The brunette just laughed, confusing the two before cheekily telling them that they'd be taking a short detour that morning. They asked him why but he just gave them a cryptic, "You'll see..." before leading thm off into a side road. The two saw no reason to object as that route was only slightly out of the way so they followed their friend after a shared glance and simultaneous shrug of shoulders.

There was nothing particularly interesting about the route Issei had forced his friends to take. It was the same middle to upper class residential district that surrounded Kuoh all around. Privately owned stores and establishments dotted the street every now and then but over all there was nothng of particular interest; that is until they reached a bus stop at the corner going back to their regular route.

Right by the rectangular sign stood a girl. Not just any girl, but a really hot girl. She was short, even by a girl's standards she was probably a few centimeters shy of reaching the median. This put her at a clear head's worth of height less than the boys. That wasn't enough to catch their attention though.; what did catch their eye were those insane proportions. For a girl of her size, she was stacked in all the right places. A generous chest, narrow waist that gaveway to child-bearing hips. Good god this girl's body was dynamite. Her face was no less striking with those big doe eyes and ebony hair floating in the wind in intoxicating waves. She was exactly the kind of girl they drooled over all the days of their lives. Cute enough to be a little sister but sexy enough to be a big sis.

Issei's grin grew when the girl recognized their little group and began waving. "Issei-san!", she ran over to them with a skip in her step. Every little bounce in her feet flipping up that sinfully short skirt she wore as part of her school's uniform. It afforded anyone who had the gal to stare for more than a few seconds; a free show of her flush shapely thighs all the way to the rounded cheeks of her rear. The way her blazer hugged her form as if it were about to burst at the chest; did nothing to calm racing hearts either. Said girl reached the trio and quickly wrapped her arms around Issei's free hand. The feel of her soft bossom pressing against his triceps made him grin like an idiot but he just had to see the reaction on his friends' faces; even if he was being open about how much he was being a smug douche.

What Issei saw was not exactly what he was expecting. He expected outrage, incredulity, hormonally charged teen adolescent jealousy. Instead, he found outrage but it was contained. Matsuda had the look of a guy who was as suspicious as he was angry. Motohama was closer to Issei's image as the young man had a jaw open wide enough to encourage the entrance of flies. That jaw-dropped image was completed with jerky shaking hands being raised in the air as if to strangle him.

It wasn't up to his standards of friendly dissing, but it made the smile on his face more dopey all the same. Seriously, his friends always had something over him when it came to pervertedness, Matsuda with his paparazzi powers combined with athletics; Motohama, with that crazy analytic ability of his. But now, Issei had something over them that none of the three had ever achieved before in their history as co-perverts. Hyoudou Issei was the first among them to get a girlfriend and he was going to rub it in their faces.

"Good morning Yuuma-chan. Ready to head for school?", the brunette asked his girlfriend in the sweetest voice he could muster with a kissy face. Issei was really laying it on thick as he put on a show for his friends.

The girl shrank back from the advance and playfully tapped him on the arm, "Oh Issei-san. Stop, the others are watching.".

Issei chuckled good-naturedly as he retracted his lips from her face. "Well don't worry. They aren't strangers, they're my friends."

Yuuma tipped her head cutely to one side. "The ones you were going to introduce me to?", she confirmed the earlier promise to her.

"Yup.", Issei nodded confidently. He raised one arm to gesture towards his friends. "They might not look like much but they're my best friends.", he pointed to Matsuda, "The bald one is Matsuda", he turned his finger to Motohama who had shut his mouth and put his hands down; though he's still shaking, "and this here is Motohama. If you ever see them, don't be afraid to say hi." He leaned in close to Yuuma and whispered, "They're kind of perverts though so don't hesitate to tell me if they do anything weird or make you uncomfortable." Issei raised one arm as if showing off his biceps, "I'll set'em straight for 'ya."

Issei's girlfriend had confused look at first but beamed up at him with a nod, "Thank you Issei-san."

A relatively muscular arm quickly wrapped itself around Issei's neck from behind. Despite the long sleeve covering it, the brunette could feel the tough swell of well developed biceps. "Who are you gonna set straight hmmm?", the haunting voice of Matsuda hung over Issei.

The sudden headlock caused Yuuma to lose her grip on Issei's arm. This made her squeak in alarm and Matsuda let go of his hold on Issei not much long after he started it. He gave the surprised girl a small grin before apologizing and approached to take her hand soothingly. "Ah sorry Yuuma-chan. I was just messing around with Issei here.", he laughed awkwardly before letting go of the sinfully soft skin of the girl. Matsuda caught the brunette in a noogie again to illustrate his point, "This guy gets carried away sometimes so we gotta put him in his place every now and then."

A small mischievous smile appeared on Yuuma's face when she nodded back, "I know what you mean. He tends to get ahead of himself even though we just started going out."

"Riiiight?", Motohama suddenly cut in grabbing the hands of Issei's girlfriend. "He's really scum, so if you ever need a shoulder to cry on because he's being a jerk or a new boyfriend then you can always call me."

Yuuma felt a large drop of sweat roll down the back of her head, "Umm... I don't think it's that bad."

"Oh Yuuma-chan. How misguided you are.", the young bespectacled male shook his head. "Let me educate you on the inner workings of Hyoudou's mind." Motohama turned the shorter girl around and urged her forward by the shoulders. Before pushing her off, Motohama gave Matsuda a meaningful look before chiming, "Now if you would kindly walk this way." as he lead Yuuma away.

Matsuda caught the silent message in Motohama's single glance and nodded. The former athlete's grip on Issei slackened ever so slightly spurring the young man to break out of his grasp. Issei immediately began ranting at Motohama's back to keep his hands off of Yuuma. Matsuda believed this was likely because it was in their nature to feel a girl up given the chance. Not that Issei was wrong but...

Matsuda grabbed Issei by one shoulder and spun him around. On the bald pervert's face was a seriousness the brunette could never associate with the cueball. "Issei.", Matsuda called his friend's attention. "How did you meet that girl?".

The brunette raised a questioning eyebrow; then a few moments later, it turned into a smug grin. "Well,", he drug out the first vowel, "remember how we got beat up by Hamuko a few days ago for peeping in on the kendo team's locker room?".

Matsuda nodded, "Well, yeah. How could I forget? It was my idea." The bald one didn't know where Issei was going with this. They were all at the infirmary for a time and they left the school at different points of the afternoon. That meant they all went home alone that time; which means... No way... "That day!?", Matsuda's face exploded into disbelief.

The smell of victory was sweet for Issei as he rested both knuckles on either side of his waist. "Yes way.", he replied in triumph. "I was going home late into the sunset and just as I was preoccupied with the day of defeat. She swooped in and made my day by confessing to me with her breasts. Nyahahahahahahaha!", Issei laughed rashly.

In the face of this overwhelming celebration, Matsuda's expression could not be seen. He was looking down to the ground and shaking. There was something wrong with this picture. How could a no name clown like Hyoudou get with a girl that hot? Motohama had sensed it, he had sensed it. Could it actually be? But Hyoudou doesn't have any money. "Issei!", the young man screamed as he grabbed his brunette friend by the collar.

"Wh-Wha?", Issei stood shocked by the course of action Matsuda was taking. "What's happening?"

Matsuda looked in the direction Motohama and that girl had taken before turning back to Issei. "Get away from that girl Issei. She's bad news.".

"Wh-what?", Issei repeated his vocabulary flub for the second time, only this time completing the word. "What do you mean Yuuma's bad news?"

"Think Issei. No way is a girl that hot going out with someone like you. There's got to be a catch!", Matsuda shook Issei by the collar.

"It's just my pheromones kicking in. Don't be so jealous.", the brunette joked with a smug grin.

Matsuda gave Issei a flat glare. "Seriously Issei. Why would I be jealous of you?"

Issei' brows knit together in confusion at his friend's unexpected response. "You're not?"

"Ofcourse I am!", Matsuda bellowed. He caught on to the accusing look Issei was giving him before he added on, "but that's beside the point. Even an idiot like me can tell that something's up. If she went home with me I'd think twice about her motives too." Issei's stare turned into a pointed glare. "Okay maybe I wouldn't", Matsuda conceded, "but I'd probably figure out she was bad news sooner or later. Right now it's just easier to tell from the outside looking in."

An angry huff escaped Issei as he deflated his proud chest. He placed one understanding hand on Matsuda's shoulder before saying, "Matsuda. I understand if you're jealous", his grip tightened on the bald young man's shoulder, "but I won't stand for you insulting Yuuma-chan. Saying things like her being a bad person will get you in trouble with me. I'll let it slide because you're my friend though so I-ah-ah-ah!"

Matsuda looked lazily down at Issei as the brunette was positioning his body oddly in order to keep his fingers from breaking. To be precise, fingers that were being bent the wrong way. To be even more precise, the fingers Issei used to grab Matsuda's shoulder being bent by said young man. "You do know in this troop, you might be the bull-headed one but I've always been the muscle right?"

"I just remembered.", Issei squeaked out.

Matsuda let the young man go; and Issei recovered indignantly by blowing on his stinging fingers. He turned back to Matsuda with a sour gaze and asked, "You're my friend Matsuda, so I want to believe you. But Yuuma-chan is so sweet. She doesn't look like she could hurt a fly, much less break hearts." Issei curled his hurting fingers into a tight fist. "Just tell me, what makes you think she's not being truthful about liking me?"

Matsuda considered this for a moment, rolling the thought around in his mind. "If I had to put words to it...", he began and hummed for a few more moments. "I'd say it's a feeling I have."

Flabbergasted, Issei grabbed Matsuda by the front of the uniform and lifted the former athlete up as much as sheer rage could afford in strength. "That's it? A feeling? You insult my girlfriend over something as stupid as a feeling?"

The former athlete smacked away the angry teen's hands and gave his own indignant huff. "I hate to say it Issei, but it's not just any feeling." Matsuda set his lips into an irritated line, "In middle school, I was a photographer. A damn good one if I do say so myself. I've taken pictures of lots of things, lots of people. I've only done perverted pictures just before entering Kuoh and deciding against living on the straight and narrow. Even back then, I've taken pictures of thousands of people smiling-"

"Just get to the point Matsuda."

The bald young man regarded his brunette friend. "Sorry to tell you this Issei. But your girlfriend's smile is fake."

"What?"

"Faker than the smiles that our student council president gives out of politeness."

"No..."

"Faker than Sakaki Miura's boobs."

"You take that back! My favorite AV idol's boobs are 100% real!"

"She admitted they were fake on twitter!"

That last statement stunned Issei into silence. Matsuda watched his friend with an apologetic grimace. "I'm sorry Issei, but that's the truth."

"No.", Issei shook his head, "You're lying. You have to be lying! About both Yuuma and Miura's boobs!"

"Issei..."

"I've heard enough!", Issei looked down at his hands. He turned a heated gaze towards his friend and told him straight out. "I'll prove it to you. I'll go on a date with Yuuma-chan and prove that she's a nice girl and that she's really in love with me."

The bald teen looked away. "Dude, don't be such an idiot." A moment passes before Matsuda heaves a heavy sigh and reluctantly puts an encouraging hand on Issei's shoulder, "Well, if I can't stop you then I hope you can make things work out with her. And if that doesn't work..." Matsuda's face turned into a lecherous grin as he raised a thumbs-up, "you can always cop a feel."

Issei shrugged the hand off, "It won't come to that. Yuuma and I will definitely become a lovey-dovey couple! Though I'll still cop a feel anyway if I can." Issei raised a challenging finger, pointing it at his friend. "As for what you said about my favorite AV idol", the brunette clenched the accusatory digit into a fist. "I will definitely feel them up someday to prove they're real!"

"Dude, give it up. Even I know that's impossible.", Matsuda rolled his eyes.

The brown-haired pervert looked Matsuda straight in the eye and said, "Nothing's impossible when I become the harem king."

A moment passed before Matsuda pulled up his phone with a sigh of his own and held it up so Issei could see the screen. "Before you do any of that oh great harem king. You might want to raise your flag over this first."

On the phone was a picture of some stretched taut blue-striped panties covering the very luscious rear quarters of a girl. Issei stared at it hypnotized and commented, "That is one nice tushy."

"You should think so.", Matsuda commented, "It's your girlfriend's butt."

"What!?", Issei grabbed Matsuda by the collar again. "You took a panty shot of my girlfriend!?"

Matsuda squinted in annoyance, thinking that all this shirt grabbing was bad for his uniform. "I also got other angles." He switched the photo to other pictures from different view points. One of them from a lower front angle, which was amazing since he took these pictures when he was enroute to pulling Issei into a headlock from behind some minutes ago.

"Do you really think I'm so low as to take those perverted photos of my newly minted girlfriend so I can imagine her as the star of my deepest and most depraved sexual fantasies?", the brunette roared to the crisp quiet morning.

Looking bored, Matsuda asked his friend who was still holding him by the collar. "So which pictures do you want?"

"ALL OF THEM! PLEASE!"

* * *

In hindsight of that flashback, Issei made a mental note that he really needed to work out and kick Matsuda's ass. If only to prove Sakaki Miura's breasts are real; or at least make him take back that slanderous statement of them being fake.

Snapping back to the present, Issei was highly conscious that the time he and his girlfriend agreed on was almost here, 11 A.M. right ready for lunch. He was completely sure that his outfit and plan were foolproof, there was no way for him to mess them up. Issei'd been checking on them for the last two hours since he arrived a little before nine in the morning. In two to three minute intervals. And in more hindsight, that was probably pretty creepy; but it was all for the sake of a perfect first date for his perfect girl. Never mind the crowd that was avoiding him or that one mother shielding her son's eyes as the child pointed at him.

"Issei-san!", a familiar cute voice called out to the preoccupied young man.

The brunette turned his head the way the voice came from. Lo and behold, there was Yuuma, running towards him in some seriously cute casual wear. A white cardigan over a light carnation camisole top. There were a few black bra straps peeking out, adding a sexiness factor already given by the large swells of the girl's breasts. To balance out all those light colors, her skirt was a dark navy blue. It did well to contrast with those healthy peach hued legs of hers. Her footsteps clopped against the pavement with red strapped white platform sandals. Hair dancing in the wind, falling freely and unstyled.

"Yuuma-chan.", Issei waved back lamely to his date. He was really full of energy and eager to go on this date but the way the crowd was staring at him now was kind of killing the mood. The brunette began to mentally chide himself.

_Pull yourself together Hyoudou. You finally get a cute girl to go out on a date with you. Don't mind anyone else. Make sure this girl gets the time of her life and she'll be yours forever! Then you can move on and conquer harem member number 2!_

"That's right.", Issei confidently mumbled to himself.

Yuuma's clopping footsteps came to a short halt as she peered up to her boyfriend with worried eyes, "Hmm? Is something wrong? You're mumbling something with such serious look on your face."

A happy grin burst forth from all that sternness on his face and he shook his head to calm her worries, "Don't worry Yuuma-chan. I was just thinking of how this day will be seriously fun."

"Seriously?", Yuuma raised a finely groomed brow with a small quirk to her soft lips. Then she started giggling, "Seriously." She paused then repeated the word, "Seriously." Then those giggles became laughter and her eyes caught Issei's in a stunning glance, "Seriously Issei-san. You're so silly." Yuuma took hold of his hans and gave them a slight squeeze, "We'll definitely have fun today. No matte what."

Issei's intoxicated grin and attraction shocked face sobered up into something a bit more gentle. He gave her an honest smile and nodded, "Yeah." The brunette quickly ran over a list in his head. The first order of business was lunch and he knw just where. He retraced the ideal scenic route where he could by her small trinkets on the way if she wanted in his head. Issei took a dominant hold on their linked hands, "Let's go grab some lunch. I've got a place in mind if the lady would let me."

A mischievous glint lit up in Yuuma's eyes and she tittered back in a mocking snub, "Well sir, this lady does not mind. So long as you can pay for the finest of meats and cheeses."

Issei gave her a puppy dog look, knowing how pricy those things are then threw in, "Why not throw in a bottle of wine why don't ya?"

"Sounds like a splendid idea.", Yuuma beamed back.

A moment passes and the two break out in laughter at their own little mock play. Arm in arm they take down the road. In their own little world, oblivious to the stares of strangers curious about the odd couple.

Issei takes Yuuma to a family restaurant. Nothing fancy but nothing harshly low brow. It's a quiant little establishment that has seen the better days of the young man's wallet. It offers good food, a good view of the shopping district and it provided a destination through a route of stalls Issei wanted Yuuma to see.

Various stalls had littered the streets on the way to the restaurant. Issei made sure to stay away from the main market streets where fish mongers, butchers and fruit vendors were. Instead, he stuck to the side roads where all teens their age hung out. There were various clothing stores, food stall, game stores and even a traditional japanese sweets shop.

As Issei had hoped, Yuuma enjoyed their little detour. She had stopped every now and then to browse the little odds and ends on sale. The two even bought a few as evidenced by the bangles that now adorned Yuuma's right wrist and scrunchy holding her hair up in a high ponytail.

Now sharing a small booth meant for four all to themselves, Issei allowed himself the luxury to appreciate his girlfriend wearing the gifts he bought for her. He listened to the way the bangles jingled as Yuuma turned the page to the menu. Slowly, his eyes drifted over to the base of her slender neck. Its curvature was nothing less than sexy. The way those loose strands of dark hair curled rebelliously over that milky white neck even when held up by the scrunchy. Mix that with the way he eyes were downcast on the menu and she was positively ravishing.

Issei raised his gaze to her face then her red eyes-

Wait, red? Yuuma's eyes were brown colored, kind of like chocolate; but this was red. An abnormal red if Issei had to profess. Where red of a remarkable shade would be a deep hue reminiscent of blood or ripe strawberries, this red was bright. An oddly pinkish red that made Issei think of oranges and maraschino cherries. His gaze fell down to lips set in an easy smile. None of the innocent seductive pouts and naturally kissable puffiness he'd attributed to his girlfriend's lips. Raven hair was replaced with hair the color of intoxicating amber wine tied into a ponytail different from his girlfriend's but one he knew all too well.

Issei nearly leapt back in surprise when he recognized those features as a whole. Constrained by the fixed bench of the family restaurant booth, he only managed to slam his back into the backrest in a comic, almost violent manner. His date, who was fingering through the pages of the menu, put aside the list of foods she was reading to ask if he was alright. She was giving him a curious look with those bright red eyes of hers as she asked, "Is anything wrong Issei-san?"

The male brunette blinked and those pair of bright red eyes were gone along with that easy going smile. The experience was surreal, if not creepy. Even still, he forced a smile through his uneasiness and strove to appease Yuuma, "No problem, I just remembered that we need to try their tempura meal here. It's really good."

"Is that so?", Yuuma smiled back at him before completely closing the menu. "Then let's just have that."

"Yeah.", Issei nodded, "Let's." He flagged down a waiter and placed their order along with a request for some iced water. Though Issei was speaking and working his date on the outside; inside he was jittery and freaking out, wondering why the heck did he imagine _her_ in Yuuma's place of all people. Why couldn't it be someone like Sakaki Miura? At least then he'd have huge boobs to enjoy staring at. That meddling woman was probably around a B cup or a C cup. In his eyes she may as well not have breasts. And yet for all those flaws specific to Issei's standards, a small voice inside him noted that the woman who blocked his every perverted whim wasn't so bad.

As to be expected though, Issei quashed down such thoughts and labeled them treasonous to himself and his date. Seriously, a man who is going to become harem king doesn't need to be thinking of only one girl. Especially not one as insufferable as _that_ one. He had to concentrate on his conquests, like his girlfriend.

A tall fogged glass of iced water appeared before Issei with a clink. He followed the arm that placed it there with his eyes and noted the empty tray in the waiter's hand. Likely the man had already gone to the kitchen to pass on the orders and come back with refreshments. This meant he had been spacing out for the span of at least five minutes. Not something you want to do on a date. But he ignored all that for a second and chugged down the liquid contents of his glass. All that processing of the earlier episode was overheating Issei's brain. Cold water was probably a bad idea in that situation though, because-

"Ah!", Issei raised his hands and grabbed his head.

Brain Freeze

Issei felt a warm hand rest over his left temple, stroking in soothing swirls. The young man opened his eyes to see who it was, and the owner of the hand was Yuuma. Concern was all over her face as she asked, "Are you okay? You shouldn't have drunk too fast."

Issei smiled to himself and nodded, "Yeah." This time he meant it. Seeing Yuuma like this, caring about him. He put his thoughts of pride, being harem king and all on the back burner for real this time. Today was this girl's day so he had to focus on her. "Hey Yuuma-chan."

"What is it Issei-san?", she asked back with a tip of her head.

"I kinda spaced out there on you for a second. Gotta say sorry for that.", the young man professed sheepishly.

Yuuma turned her head from side to side in a slow shake. "I didn't notice at all."

Issei smiled, this girl was really kind. "I feel like I should make it up to you anyway." He reached for his date's hand and held it in between his palms. "How about a movie at the mall later? I hear they have the best 3D and surround sound system."

Smiling wryly, Yuuma let Issei inspect her hand before intoning, "Weren't we planning to see a movie anyway?"

The question made Issei laugh. A movie was indeed part of his plans already but, "How about we make it a double bill?"

Yuuma's eyes lit up at that offer. "Then can we go see Romantic Heart and Red Road?"

Issei laughed at the childish excitement in his date's eyes. "Ofcourse."

"Yay!", Yuuma cheered, pulling away her hand from Issei then wrapping his in her smaller ones. "You're the best.", she told him as she gave a happy little squeeze.

Those words and actions warmed Issei in more ways than one. He was sure his cheeks were reddening but he didn't mind if it was for her. He was about to ask her what kind movies she chose but their food arrived with the announcement of the waiter. Rather than ask about it during the meal, he decided that maybe he'd prefer to be surprised.

So the two had lunch with light banter tossed around, sharing stories about their experiences in their respective schools and their friends along with some funny anecdotes and jokes. Issei did most of the joking. He found that he liked Yuuma's laugh, like really like. It was music to his ears and he did and said pretty much everything he could within the confines of the booth just to make her laugh. Even if the jokes he spoke were lame or fell flat. The slight to his dignity was worth Yuuma's expression of happiness.

Once lunch was over, the two lovebirds hit up the mall for their movie date. The first one available was Romantic Heart then followed by Red River. Issei learned then that his girlfriend was into really opposite sides of the movie genre spectrum. Romantic Heart is about a man with a fiancee but he dies in an accident before they can marry. His heart was transplanted to another man who needed it and the story came full circle when the other man met the first man's fiancee and they fell in love. Red River on the other hand was a horror action flick that belonged to the B-list sheerly from how over the top it was in violence, but the trailer playing in the lobby featured so many good effects that Issei gave it the benefit of the doubt in terms of quality. The synopsis seemed interesting too, what with a small river cruise on a luxury 1800's style steamer turns into a fight for survival when a deranged madman living in the surrounding jungles boards the ship and starts killing everyone on board..

Romantic Heart wasn't set to start for another half hour so Issei pulled Yuuma along to the arcade right beside the theaters. Issei specifically chose this theater not only because it had the best accommodations on the cheap but because it had little things like these arcades to kill time with on the side as well. They played a few games, took a photo-print together, and Yuuma even won Issei a prize. He tried to win Yuuma one on the crane game machines which were stuffed with more than just dolls; but he proved less than adequate so his girlfriend had to step in.

Those thirty minutes passed and the movie went by in a blur. The whole time Issei was enjoying himself as Yuuma held his arm affectionately in an embrace. He enjoyed it mostly for Yuuma's sizable bust rubbing onto his arm. The soft warm sensations entertaining him much more than the movie did. His eyes were more drawn to her luminescent blush as well so he ended up not seeing the movie at all.

Red River came up after a short thirty minutes after Romantic Heart ended; so the couple just restocked on snacks before heading in to claim their seats. With all of Issei's misgivings about the film, he ended up not seeing much of it anyway. Not to be misunderstood, he was in the theater the whole time. Yuuma was enjoying herself but Issei discovered exactly how badly he mixed with horror movies. For all his self spoken bravado and confidence in seeing this flick, it had him wrapping both arms around Yuuma for support while he hid his face in the crook of her neck screaming and bawling. The roles from the last movie had been reversed now, more or less. Yuuma was blushing all the way through the movie out of embarrassment because of the way her boyfriend was acting. It drew the gaze of strangers, mostly those of irritation. It was a miracle they weren't asked to vacate the premises.

After the little marathon, Yuuma poked a bit of fun at how Issei was acting and guilt tripped him into spending the rest of their date shopping with her. The young man was whiny about it but he didn't really resist. He had planned to take her out to do just that anyway. Yuuma didn't actually buy anything so much as window shop. Sh even did some modeling for Issei, though it wasn't the lingerie modeling Issei had heard so much about on dates. Nonetheless he enjoyed what he got.

When the sun began to set, Issei asked Yuuma whether she wanted to head out the mall for some fresh air before they go back home. His girlfriend gave him a questioning glance but nodded anyway. She wasn't averse to staying in the mall, but she admitted that it would be easier to get home outside than in.

Issei took his girlfriend to the last stop on their date, the park. Now he knows it might sound lame but he did his research on dating and poured through volumes of romance novels and shoujo manga. The most romantic place to end the date with minimum cash was always the park. It was a public location; and at the end of the day, light from the setting sun would color the trees in a beautiful haze of gold and crimson. The setting would be silent save the wind and the trees. It also had little foot traffic so privacy was plentiful. The park would be the ultimate spot to get his first kiss and maybe a little wink wink nudge nudge whistle whistle if the brunette could coax it out of her.

The weather was a bit on the warm side as they walked the streets. Issei didn't question it. Summer was just a month away so it wouldn't be weird to feel some of the incoming season's effects. He stole a glance at Yuuma and saw her unruffled by the heat. It must've been sweltering though with all those layers she was wearing. Issei knew that to be the case because he was wearing a jacket coat over his shirt. It was in anticipation of cooler weather but it seemed the lull of coolness from spring would not come this day.

Spotting a convenience store some distance away, Issei shot a glance at Yuuma then made his decision. "Hey Yuuma-chan.", he called out to his girlfriend.

She responded by tipping her head to get a better look at him. "What is it Issei-san?", she asked him, not for the first time that day.

Issei pointed to the convenience store, an establishment with the name of 24/7. "It's a bit warm, want to pick up something to cool off for a bit?"

Yuuma smiled up at his thoughtfulness but shook her heard, "Um... that's not really necessary. I'm plenty cool as I am."

The brunette smiled back to his girl. He found her refusal cute, endearing in the way that it was her own method of being thoughtful to him. But such sentiments were not going to overtake his own so he took her hand kindly, "But I'm pretty thirsty. You wouldn't mind joining me inside for a few minutes wouldn't you?" He clapped his hands together in petition and winked with a whine, "Pleeeeeaaaaase?"

It was a childish display, but it made the smile on the cute raven-haired girl's face grow before it settled into an upwards quirked line. "Fine.", she agreed in mock resignation.

"Thanks babe.", Issei thanked before closing in for a kiss.

Yuuma grabbed his face with one hand, squeezing both cheeks as she forced an unamused laugh, "You shouldn't be so hasty, Issei-san." She released his face after a few more squeezes.

The young man petulantly released his girlfriend's hands and rubbed at his numbed cheeks. "Man," he mumbled, "those guys in American movies make it look so easy."

He stepped into the air-conditioned confines of the 24/7 first before letting his girl friend pass through the automated doors he was keeping open. That was the plan at least. The second the electronic jingle announcing a new customer started playing, a familiar voice greeted him

"Welcome to 24/7, please buy lots."

Yes, a very familiar voice was greeting him into this establishment. Time slowed down for young Issei Hyoudou. His eyes flickered over to the source of the voice then widened in recognition once they confirmed the identity of the voice's owner. Brown almost amber hair, bright red eyes, fine lips set in a welcoming smile. Those were the features he saw replace his girlfriend's. They all added up to describe the one girl who turned his life of tits and tickles into a pervert's equivalent of hell. The girl standing behind the counter, regarding him with a billion watt smile was none other than Minako Arisato.

"Ah, Issei-kun. It's surprising to see you in this part of town at this kind of time and date."

Speaking of dates, a concerned Yuuma stepped out from behind Issei to see what was wrong with her boyfriend. He just kind of froze mid-step and stopped walking. She nearly crashed into his back from how sudden it was.

Seeing the girl, Minako was confused. After some seconds, the proverbial light bulb lit up over her head in realization. Something resembling pride and joy mixed together in the expression she came to wear. She brought her hands together in a delighted clap before scurrying around the counter.

Yuuma was surprised when a brown-haired clerk grabbed her hands and looked into her eyes with a mixture of happiness and approval. The clerk was nodding to herself before looking between the flustered girl and her boyfriend. It almost felt like she was confirming some sort of hunch she was having, by herself to herself. What an odd person.

"Issei-kun! Congratulations!", Minako practically trilled as she threw her hands around Issei in a friendly hug.

That jolted Issei's system. His crashed brain began to reboot and the first thing he could process in that moment was that Minako was really really soft. Counter to his assessment of her lack of _boobage,_ or breasts for his taste, she was really really soft... and warm. The young man barely took that information in when Minako pulled away beaming a toothy smile his way. She looked very proud of him for some reason that he couldn't fathom.

"So you finally got yourself a girlfriend huh?", she turned a sly eye to Yuuma who was standing right beside him. The raven-haired girl seemed a bit miffed considering some random woman just up and hugged a taken man, more so since the taken man was said raven-haired girl's man.

Once Yuuma heard that last statement come from the copper-haired clerk though, she eased up her jealousy guard. The raven-haired girl stepped up with a smile and introduced herself, "Hello, my name is Yuuma Amano, I'm Issei-san's girlfriend." As much as she eased up, there was a certain stiffness that sent not so subtle signals of "_Back off, he's mine._"

Minako got the message but continued to smile genuinely nonetheless. She took Yuuma's hands in her own and greeted, "It's nice to meet you Yuuma-chan. Thank you for taking care of Issei-kun all the time. He's really a handful back at school."

Minako's sincere gushing had Issei's girlfriend all flustered and she answered back in awkward politeness, even so far as formally bowing, "Oh no not at all! Actually we haven't even been going out for a week." It almost looked like Yuuma was meeting Issei's mother and not a classmate.

"Well, please keep taking care of Issei-kun. God knows I could do with less cleaning up after him." Those words brought a question to Yuuma's mind. The curiosity visible on her face prompted Minako to speak before Yuuma was forced to voice such a rude question. "Don't worry", Minako assuaged Yuuma's worries, "I'm just a classmate of Issei-kun's. I make sure his scores stay in the passing grade and he doesn't step out of line with the girls."

"Out of line with the girls?", Yuuma interjected.

"Oh, didn't you know? Issei-kun is a huge per-"

"Aaaaaahhhh! Okay, that's enough of the girl talk", the near forgotten Issei sprang to life to interrupt and cupped one hand over Minako's mouth. He received a disapproving looks from his girlfriend but he gave her an awkward uneasy smile as he explained, "we have to get going before curfew hits. So maybe we should go Yuuma-chan."

"But it was your idea to come here and get something to drink.", his date pointed out.

"Right, right. Sorry about that.", Issei nodded apologetically. "How about I grab something from the fridge real quick and meet you out at the park gates?"

Yuuma agreed easily to the suggestion but her face showed she was anything but happy with it. "I understand. Will you be taking long?"

"Not much", Issei assured her. "A few minutes at best."

Issei's girlfriend gave one last nod before exiting through the automated glass doors once more. Once she was out of sight, Issei let Minako go and glared at her. "What is wrong with you!?"

Minako was giving Issei a glare of her own. "I should be asking you that. You sent the poor girl out on her own during your date!"

"That's nothing compared to telling a guy's girlfriend about all his raunchy exploits!", Issei hissed back, irritation bubbling up inside.

"The girl has the right to know.", Minako pressed. "If a girl is to get anywhere in a relationship with a guy she has to know him at his best and at his worst."

"That's stupid and you know it Arisato.", Issei half-roared as his irritation overflowing into full-blown anger, "You know as well as I do that half the girls in the world wouldn't date me once they know what I do in my spare time. I want this to work and I don't need your stupid advice to do it, _mother_."

"I'm not trying to be your mother. I'm being your friend."

"We were never friends!"

…

A moment of silence passed where neither spoke. Issei huffed, Minako looked away. Blood rushed through every vein in Issei's head. A heavy weight pressed against the bottom of his stomach while his head felt light yet pressured from the inside as if it would blow outwards. He shook it off and headed for the refrigeration cabinets. "Let me just get a few sodas so you can ring me up, and I can leave."

Minako nodded mutely, face sullen as she took her place behind the register again. She faintly heard Issei come back with a few clinking cans making his presence known. She passed them by the scanner and mechanically offered to bag them for him. He declined in a monotone manner, dropped some coins in the plastic money basket and left her with the automated door's beeping in the background of humming airconditioners.

From the back of the shop, a door clicked open and closed before someone shuffled in under a pile of boxes. "Hey Minako, could you help me with this stuff?"

The copper-haired clerk looked up to see her co-worker buried under work and she wiped away at tears that unknowingly gathered in her eyes. She put on a chipper smile again before jogging up to her colleague, "Coming Saji."


	3. Chapter 3

Guilt crashed into Issei the second he passed through the doors of 24/7 out into the warm spring dusk. He had two cans of cold soda in hand but the sting of sub-zero aluminum did nothing to faze him. His mind was preoccupied by the non-conversation he'd been having with Minako no more than a few minutes ago. He had not meant to snap at her like that, but something about her telling Yuuma about his being a pervert flipped a switch inside of him. Issei didn't want Yuuma to know what kind of person he was. She had admitted that she'd only ever seen him and liked him because he always passed by the same bridge she did to get home. It wasn't like she liked his personality. He really wanted to make this work, and any method to do so would be a viable route he'd try.

Issei paused in his walk. Was he really trying to protect his possible relationship with Yuuma? Was he trying to... commit? He bit his bottom in frustrated thought. He wanted to be a harem king, he wanted to have women crawling all over him wanting a piece of the Hyoudou gene pool. Yet here he was, trying for a serious relationship with only one girl. Was he falling in love with her? Then why did he think of Minako instead of Yuuma back at the diner?

"Graaaaagh!", Issei gave himself a self-inflicted noogie as that frustration of his continued to fester. He was confused and so were his feelings. On one hand, he really liked Yuuma. Well she liked him, but because she's the first girl to like him, he wanted to be courteous and like her too, or was that just his naivete? On the other hand... maybe Kiryuu was right? Maybe he-

Issei shook his head, that train of thought was just getting too weird. There was no way he was- Ack, he couldn't even finish the thought with how repulsing it was. Anyway, he had to go apologize to Minako tomorrow. He really didn't like her, what with the foiling of every perverted plan he and his friends had; but she didn't deserve to have someone act like a jerk to her.

Ending that issue, Issei continued on his way to the park. That particular park he had asked to meet Yuuma in was precisely in his date plan. It was the perfect place to end a lovey dovey date. The sunset was at its most beautiful there and they could be provided with privacy amidst greens stained in beautiful reds and yellows. They could do anything they wanted: hold hands, embrace, kiss, maybe even more?

Perverted giggles bubbled up the brunette's throat and through his mouth. The scenarios playing out in his head were nothing short of immoral, but fantasies continued to play like roughly edited montages. It involved himself, Yuuma and various objects from the park: trees, bushes, grass, benches, even lamp posts. The reel playing in his mind's eye only stopped when his physical eyes spotted the real Yuuma standing in front of the frame of the park gates.

Her stance was sad, forlorn; completely different from the Yuuma he had been with the rest of the earlier day. Gone was the smile, gone were the cute giggles, gone was the bouncy nature of her step and countenance. It pained Issei to see her like that so he approached thoughtfuly and touched one of the ice cold cans against her cheek.

"The heat finally getting to you?", he tried joking her out of her stupor.

It worked, for all of three seconds. She gave him a small smile and hummed in agreement, "Mhmm." Yuuma took the offered can of lime soda; popped open the tab with a sad pensive look on her face, and took a sip.

Issei did not doubt that the scene back at the convenience store was the cause of her current melancholy mood. He wondered which part of it all bothered her most and a small voice that sounded suspiciously too much like Arisato whispered back, "It's because you're keeping secrets from her." Issei quelled that voice with a swift mental stomp. There was no way that Yuuma thought he was being secretive.

"Issei-san.", the young man's girlfriend called his attention. He gave it to her effortlessly, almost desperately, in hopes of learning what was bothering her. In a moment, he regretted it when she said, "Are you hiding anything from me?"

That certainly threw him for a loop. Issei wondered for a moment if she was reading his mind or something but realized he was pausing too long, making things more awkward by the second. "Well...", Issei opened up his statement without any idea of what he wanted to say. He really didn't know what to say. She was asking him question he didn't want to give the answers to. If anything, because the answers would not be the ones she would want to hear.

He made an effort to speak, but a lump seemed to form at his throat. His tongue felt swollen and uncooperative to form any words. At the back of his mind, the place where he kept his conscience which sounded suspiciously like a familiar copper-haired girl kept repeating something along the lines of "the truth will set you free." Like that ever worked. Issei read the novels, he saw the movies and he saw in person how badly Matsuda and Motohama crashed and burned whenever they were honest about what they liked about girls they confessed to; during their confession may he add.

So he did what any red-blooded self-respecting man his age would, he lied. "there's nothing that comes to mind."

Yuuma looked up at him, eyes doe-wide with trepidation and held-back feelings. Issei knew that look from soap-operas. If he did not handle this right, things would not end well. "Is there really nothing that you're hiding from me?", she asked.

"Nope, nothing at all.", Issei continued to lie through his teeth.

Her wide-eyed look switched to a smile of caution and that sent alarm bells ringing in Issei's head. She was going to say something he didn't like. "Then you'll answer me truthfully if I ask you about some things?", she said with a tip of her head.

And that had Issei wanting to smack his head against the wall. She said it, the one thing he didn't want to hear from her. He gave her a crafted carefree smile, "That's going to depend. I don't think where I wash first during a bath would be appropriate to tell a lady."

Yuuma laughed a bit at that. She shook her head at the stupidity of the statement before correcting her boyfriend. "No, that's not what I want to ask.", she looked at him hopefully, "I want to know your relationship with that girl."

"That girl...", Issei repeated her last words and only one person came to mind. "You mean Minako? She's a classmate.", he informed his girlfriend innocently.

Yuuma's eyes became more hardened, suspicious, as she pressed on, "Only a classmate?" the short girl took an imposing step forward, pushing back her boyfriend through sheer presence alone.

"Only a classmate.", Issei reassured her. He wondered why Yuuma was asking about the copper-haired girl until- The brunette's pupils dilated in realizing what his girlfriend was thinking. He quickly shook his head, denials running over each other in a bid to escape his mouth. "No- No way- Nuh uh- Impossible- Never! Never ever never never! Never in a million years!", he quickly told Yuuma with arms doing all sorts of crazy gestures from crossing his arms into an X to waving wildly he were trying to take flight.

"But-", Yuuma's gaze dropped uneasily, "You two seemed so close earlier. She knew things about you that I don't."

"Ahahaha! That's because we're classmates.", Issei tried to play it off with the classmate card. "Besides", he continued to attempt reason, "this is only our first date. You'll know more about me as we keep dating right?"

Yuuma kept her downcast gaze on her feet. "I'll learn more as we date right?", she asked in a small voice.

"Ofcourse.", Issei nodded confidently. "Believe me. I'd like you to know more about me while I learn more about you."

"Then", she looked up at him with all the courage she could draw up. "Tell me what it was you were trying to keep that girl from saying." Issei drew back from those demanding eyes. "Tell me what it was she was going to say.", she took a step forward again. "There's nothing to hide right? We're dating right? You want me to know more about you right?", she took a step forward with every guilt inducing question. "Then tell me.", she finished with firmly.

"I-", Issei hesitated. The look in her eyes brooked no room for excuses. He needed to give her an answer. He returned her stare, a reply at the tip of his tongue hen he noticed the way her eyes were piercing him fiercely yet a shiny film quivered over them in some sort of hushed apprehension. It was a breaking point and it was either Issei or his date. He broke. "I'm a massive pervert and Arisato is always the one that catches me red-handed when I go peeping on girls with my best friends.", he said in one breath.

Yuuma stared at him, like really stared. It was nothing like the one she was doing before. Issei was nervous she was in some sort of shocked state in which she could never recover from. She did just learn that he _wonderful_ boyfriend was actually a pervert who looked up other girls' skirts; and looked in on them changing down to their underwear or less. Yuuma was probably crushed now.

Then she did something Issei did not expect. She laughed. Not laugh in a large explosive guffaw, neither the small bubbly giggles. Yuuma's laugh was high-pitched, almost hysterical. She really found this humorous, up to the point that she almost sounded like a hyena with a hiss in every chuckle. Off-putting did not begin to describe Issei's feelings on the matter.

"Umm...", he asked, "Are you okay?"

"Pervert.", he heard her say in between he laughs. He was confused and wanted her to elaborate but she kept going. "You were- haha- wor- worried that- hahaha- worried that I wouldn't like you- hihihi- because you were a pervert?"

"Well...", Issei shrugged uneasily, "Yeah?"

Yuuma stifled her remnant giggles and wiped a tear from her eye. She laid amused eyes on him with an equally amused smile. "Oh Issei-san. You're so sweet.", she placed a hand on his cheek, "It doesn't matter if you are a huge pervert", her smile broke open to show pearly white teeth, "because I already know." She broke into laughter again.

Issei's confusion was now at a maximum. "What? When? How?"

Yuuma attempted to reign in her guffaws as she explained, "Since the beginning. Before lunch today, you've never met me with eye contact. It was always took awhile before your eyes raised high enough to do so; and even then, it always dropped back down after a few seconds."

Mortified did not begin to describe Issei's feelings on the matter. He was blushing like mad, and it was his turn this time to find his shoes interesting. She knew from day one. Granted day one was like the day before yesterday. Still, she figured it out. Issei didn't know if he could still date her or she'd just break it off with him right here and now. It never dawned on him that she still went out with him even though she knew how much of a colossal perv he was.

Not even when she pulled back her hand from his face and took his dangling hands in her smaller palms. She rubbed the pads of her thumb against his hands in soothing, almost endearing circles. She genuinely smiled and told him, "I don't mind."

"Uh- wha?" That broke Issei out of mutilating his own self-esteem.

"I don't mind.", Yuuma repeated. She squeezed his hands tenderly and said, "It doesn't matter to me if you're a bit of a pervert. Deep down, I know you're a really nice guy. I could tell from the way you treated me on the date. You always made sure I was comfortable, you always made sure I wasn't bored. You were a gentleman to me and you never tried to rush me into anything." She looked down at their linked hands, "I'm really grateful. I was afraid that our date would just be awkward."

"Then...", Issei recovered, his brain trying to piece the situation together into something he could find believable. Apparently, the hot girl wanting to stick with him for all his faults wasn't quite believable enough. "What was all that about?"

Yuuma looked up at him. "I was afraid that I'd lose you before I even had you."

"So...", Issei began, "Was that romantic speak for we can still date?"

His girlfriend laughed at his boneheadedness at such a tense moment. "Yes.", she told him.

Happiness overcame the young man and he just threw his arms around her. Pulling the surprised girl into a tight loving embrace, Issei was so happy at this chance that he didn't even notice the way her body was smushing up against his. Had he been in his right mind, he would consider his current placement with her to be his ideal chance in terms of copping a feel or getting in her pants. Right now though, all Issei could think of was this girl in front of him was the most wonderful girl in the world; and it was his honor to make her tolerance worth it.

"Thank you. Thank you so much for giving me this chance. I promise you, you won't regret it.", he blubbered.

Yuuma awkwardly returned the hug with pats on the back with her free hand. The cold can in her hands held in such a way so as not to touch Issei and at the same time not spill. It was quite the challenge for her wrist which was straining painfully. Yet the girl managed to be sweet enough to give a reassuring reply, "It's alright. I know you won't." She attempted to pull away but found her boyfriend unwilling to release her. "Hey.", she laughed, "we still have the rest of our date to finish."

Issei's joy glazed eyes snapped into focus as he realized she was right. He still had that final thing planned. He wanted to smack himself in the head with how stupid he was being but fought the urge as Yuuma was in his arms. He finally let her go and nodded, "Yeah. You're right, our date's not done yet." Issei held out his arm to her and gave a cheeky if not goofy grin, then bowed slightly. "If you'd indulge me milady?", Issei asked her in old polite feudal speech.

The girl's smile was sweet; amused and sweet. "I think I will.", she acquiesced with a hand reaching out to him.

Her suitor happily took her hand and let her wrap her arms around one of his own. Like one of those scenes in romantic movies, the two entered the park with a certain spring in their step.

The park was much like Issei had expected it to be. No, it was a hundred times better! The colors he expected: the greens, the reds, the yellows and everything in between was joined by more to form a vivid and varied palette. The grays of the pavement and stray blues in the sky gave everything a sharp contrast, making each shade stand out. It was nothing like the haze of colors Issei had expected from watching all those soap operas. Picturesque did not even begin to describe the view availed to them as they crossed the gates to the heart of the park.

"Hey, Issei-san. Do you remember how we first met?", Yuuma made conversation as they entered the shrub lined walkways.

Issei nodded, "Yeah I do. I felt really crummy back then and I wanted to cry with how bad my luck was turning out. But lo and behold, I look up to find the most beautiful pair of breasts I've ever seen." the young man chuckled at his own less than sensitive joke.

Yuuma just smiled at his laughing figure, not a bit of discomfort could be sensed from it. More like a mix between relief and exasperation. "You flatter me.", she told him before instinctively wrapping her breasts in what arm length she could spare while holding his arm. "Though I think that was rather uncalled for."

Issei leaned in to her, "You're the one that told me to not hold back right?"

"I told you not to keep secrets from me." His girlfriend pouted, "Anyway, you totally missed the point."

"What point?", Issei knit his brows in question.

Yuuma smiled at him, "The sunset." She looked up to the sky.

Issei followed her gaze and realized she was right. The certain way the sun turned the blue sky red, as if it were set on fire. Clouds colored a burning gold reflecting back harsh glares up until a certain point. But continuing on to the parts where there were less clouds, those colors took on a different hue. With each step the young man took, he felt like he was being drawn to that differently colored sky more and more. It reminded him of something that weighed heavily in his stomach. It was something he could not entirely identify other than the memory of meeting Yuuma. It was a beautiful crimson.

"That time we met. The sky was just like this wasn't it?", he could hear Yuuma's sweet voice ask.

"Yeah.", Issei nodded, not taking his eyes off the sky. There was something that stirred in him like a coiling in his gut that spread outwards to his limbs, leaving them sweaty and twitching. His heartbeat accelerated and he felt this unerring need to move. He took those feelings as nothing more than dating jitters. He was well on the last leg of his first date so it wouldn't be weird to have some sort of nervousness, right? Lots of guys end up worrying about not screwing up at the last minute. "The sky was exactly the same when we met."

"There's a certain sense of romance to it don't you think Issei-san?"

"There is.", Issei nodded in agreement. He sighed dreamily. As much of a pervert as the young lad was, he was also a romantic at heart. It had a lot to do with the reason why shoujo manga was so highly interspersed between his towering stacks of porno magazines. "I didn't plan on it being the case though. I just thought the park would be a great place to visit before going home."

"Yes, it's only fitting that things end here." Yuuma hummed with detached ice in her voice.

The young man smiled unsure, "Um... yeah. The last stop of our first date and all."

"No, Issei.", Yuuma's voice sounded crisply over the rustling leaves and odd chirping bird. "You misunderstand. This is where everything ends."

Issei stopped, he heard something like static at the back of his head growing ever louder. He felt the accelerated heartbeat double its pace and brown irises widened, not understanding. "Wh-what do you mean?", he asked nervously, convincing himself that he must have misheard.

Yuuma let go of his arm and walked on ahead, "Exactly as I said. Everything ends here." She turned to him with the sweetest of smiles. She approached Issei again, a tender hand reaching out to caress his cheek. "I only wished we were granted more privacy for this."

The hand on Issei's cheek snaked past the back of his head until it hooked around his neck. Somewhere during its ministrations, her other hand mirrored the action to catch the young man in an embrace. Her head rest in the crook of his neck, her breathing seductively tickling at his earlobes with every breath. And yet despite all the joy and happiness he should be feeling now with this kind of proximity, Issei was just figuring out what those earlier feelings were. Those were feelings of dread. Feelings that came to a head upon Yuuma's next words.

"You said you wanted to learn something about me as we dated right?"

A sudden force exploded against Issei's chest in a violent impact that sent him flying to the cobble stone path. The young man looked up from his prone position, eyes blurred with tears of pain as his so-called girlfriend stood none too far from him. Completely unharmed by that odd explosion which had occurred in that infinitesimally small space between their pressed bodies. However that wasn't what made his mind stop functioning, it was the two large jet black wings spread enough to touch the tree tops extending from her back.

"Y-Yuuma?", he barely managed to get out.

The girl smiled at him. Though it was no longer the smile she offered him earlier in the day. No, this smile was cruel, akin to a sneer. "This is my secret Issei. The truth is my name is not Amano Yuuma." The wings flapped once and folded behind her back, "I am the fallen angel Raynare, and I am here to kill you unworthy maggot."

Issei's uncomprehending stare shook along with his voice, "Wh-What?"

A lance made of light appeared in the dark-winged one's hands and the last thing Issei saw was his supposed girlfriend's smirk as she hurled the lance of light at him like a javelin. It crossed the several meters of distance between the two in the blink of an eye and detonated like a small hand grenade upon impact.

"Impossible..." the fallen angel whispered with wide-eyed glare.

Only the lance of light did not collide with Issei Hyoudou, it smashed right into the cobblestone path some few meters further where he had been standing instead. The young man had been knocked aside by another body that had come flying from the hedge of the cobblestone path. It had come bursting forth from the verdant foliage like some kind of wild beast. This wild beast now had Issei by the collar, trying to shake some sense into his lightly concussed mind.

"Issei-kun? Issei-kun! Wake up! What's wrong? Did I run into you too hard? I'm sorry! Are you hurt? Answer me!"

If Issei could speak at that moment, the first words he would say would most certainly be "You're hurting me." as the shaking was dealing more damage to his brain than the initial impact. However, after his eyes spied two familiar orbs of bright pinkish red eyes and warmly shaded brandy hair, such thoughts left his mind blank. What came out of his mouth upon regaining function once more was one name.

"Arisato?"

The brunette girl stopped her worried violent rocking of the young man in favor of squealing in joy. "Issei-kun, you're alive!" She then wrapped him in a crushing hug which prompted unheard wheezes pleaing her to release him.

Once released, the young man sucked in a large breath of air to replace the amount forced out his lungs by his savior-slash-almost-executioner, he hadn't really decided which she was. All the same, he looked up at her questioningly from her position hovering over him, "What are you doing here?"

Minako pulled back to rest on her knees before thrusting a closed fist in front of him with pride. Issei merely shifted his curious glance from her to it then back to her, prompting further explanation. The convenience store clerk uncurled her digits to show two five-hundred yen coins and two one-hundred yen coins in her hand. "You dropped three five-hundred yen coins in the money basket awhile ago. I only noticed that you paid one-thousand five-hundred yen for three-hundred yen worth of soda after I ran the transaction through the register a few minutes later. So in the spirit of service I ran after you to give back your change." she explained all that proudly, nose stuck up in the air as if expecting the young man to praise her or something.

Instead, he just nodded lamely before reaching out with unsure hands. "Umm...", he mumbled out, "Thank you?"

Minako dropped the few coins into his waiting palms and grinned, "You're welcome. Please come back again!"

"But we're not in the shop."

Minako rolled her eyes and slapped him playfully on the arm, "It's the spirit that counts, the spirit! Geez, you really ruined the moment. Speaking of ruined moments," Minako pressed up to Issei's side to whisper conspiratorially in his ear with a finger not so subtly pointing at something to her side, "What's with your girlfriend glaring daggers into my back like that?"

Issei followed the direction of her finger and saw the way Yuuma- No, Raynare was glaring them down with murderous rage quivering in her eyes. He could feel her blood lust so palpable in the air that he could probably breathe it in and choke on it. Turning his gaze back to Minako who was now poking him for not responding, he felt incredelous at her obliviousness to this virtual miasma of hatred filling the air.

A look of horror suddenly struck the red-head brunette hybrid leading Issei to think she finally got a grasp on the situation. "Is she jealous of me for glomping you?"

Or not.

"You did tell her there's nothing between us right? Right!?" she started shaking the stupefied Issei again. He had not known Minako Arisato was this dense. Read the atmosphere here at least.

"Shut up!", Raynare's voice snarled from where she stood. Hands now ending in sharp talons instead of finely manicured nails were balled into tight shaking fists. Instead of blood dribbling between her digits, tendrils of dark light began to seep and coalesce. "Just how", she murmured, "just how did you come here? What are you?"

Stopping her accosting of Issei, she turned sharply in reply, "I'm Arisato Minako, second year at Kuoh Academy and part-timer at 24/7 store where we have all your daily needs at your convenience. I ran over here from the store, saw you and Issei being sweet by the gate and ran after you. Then when I though I was catching up by the path, it suddenly felt like the ap between us was getting bigger so I sped up then I kept running and running and running until I went full sprint till I caught sight of you and jumped when I figured I couldn't slow down in time."

"That can't be!", the fallen angel lashed out in disbelief. Energy discharged from her hands in a destructive wave that fizzled out into a gale as it reached Issei and Minako. "I placed barrier after barrier, illusion after illusion when we came here. Even if the illusion of us not being here didn't fool you then the spacial bypass should have sent you ever to the other side of the park! Even then, there were physical barrier that should have kept interlopers like you from entering as a last resort."

Minako raised a questioning brow at that declaration. "Were you...", she questioned, looking between the raven-haired girl and the boy behind herself. She pointed a finger in either of their direction and asked, "Were you guys planning to do something naughty?"

"Ugh no!", Raynare snapped, "Why would I ever degrade myself to the level of a monkey like him? That no good pervert that doesn't even half a brain cell to wonder why any girl would approach a boy like him. A boy with no skills, no intelligence and certainly not even wealth. A completely worthless meat bag that doesn't deserve the right of God's gift of life."

Minako's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Hey", she gave a warning shout, "That's being pretty mean."

Hurt was an understatement, those words cut deep.

The person in question, Issei, sat on the ground. Shock driving out every emotion from his chest and from his being. Was that really how she saw him?

"Mean? It's kindness. Calling a creature as depraved as him a pervert would be an insult to those like myself who deal in perversion. Even we have more decency than him. Why I could feel the way he just wanted to ravish me in broad daylight as we toured the city. It was utterly disgusting, I felt like I was being violated just by standing so close to him. And to think he was actually trying to play at being the innocent one. Not wanting me to know how perverted he is because I would be repulsed? Perish the though, his very existence repulses me!"

He lips cracked to a self-deprecating crescent. That was only natural.

"Breathing the same air as him makes me want to vomit. Pressing my body against his in a bid to falsify love was violating, especially when tried to touch me inappropriately. I detest him to the highest degree from the core of my very being to the rotten center of his soul. I will cleanse his filthy existence and remove him from the cycle of reincarnation even if it's the last thing I do. Such a sinful child submerged in the mud of his own grievous lust deserves no less. Someone so vile that the only way he'd know a woman's touch is without her consent."

Yes, Issei was a pervert that had no salvation left to him. He knew that, he knew was all everyone ever saw him as, the only thing they could see him as; a pervert. But was it wrong for him to wish that maybe he could change? For a moment, for a second, when he met Raynare- No, when he met Yuuma, he believed that maybe he could change, become a man honorable enough to commit to one woman. Was that impossible to begin with? Was he so far gone that the only way for him to feel the soft touch of a woman was to buy their consent? If not then maybe against? He shook his head, he didn't want to think on it anymore or else he might actually believe it. If he believed such a thing then maybe...

Issei lifted his hands before his eyes.

Maybe he would do just that and resort to forci-

"No.", Minako declared, simple and loud. She had her hands akimbo and a scowl was on her face.

Issei's head snapped up in surprise at the sudden proclamation. His brown eyes unconsciously resting what little hope he had left on that small frame.

"What do you mean _no_?", Raynare continued to seethe from where she stood. Wings spread out threateningly attempting to scare the other girl.

"I meant what I said. No, Issei isn't hopeless. No, Issei isn't the scum of the Earth. No, Issei doesn't lack any good points."

For every rejection Minako made of Raynare's words, hope seeped into Issei and sent strength to his limbs. He could feel the strength to stand proudly once more.

"Even though all those good points are buried by that one humungous horrible point that is his lust."

And then promptly plant his face to the cobblestone path with a loud crack. "Are you defending my dignity or not!?", the young man demanded from his place on the ground, never mind the embossed outline of cobblestones lining his face in angry red.

Minako ignored him and kept on speaking, "Issei is the kind of guy who wears his emotions on his sleeve. You said you could tell that he was trying to grope you but acting the perfect gentleman? That wasn't an act. He really was trying to be the perfect gentleman. Issei is the kind of guy who's honest to a fault. Him trying to hide his perverseness is because he cares, not because he wants to take advantage of you. On that note, hadn't Issei done everything in his power to make your date enjoyable? Didn't he make sure the whole day never left you bored and your were properly engaged the whole time? Issei may be a pervert but he's earnest and sincere in a way few guys can be. Even now, being devastated as he is by your words, that just means how much you still mean to him, how much your view on him dictates how he looks at himself. He loves you Yuuma, there's no question to it and here you are trampling all over his heart!"

"Love? Yuuma? That's all an illusion.", the fallen angel waved off such notions. She gripped her fingers into a fist and smirked sinisterly, "My name is Raynare and from the start my only intent had been to take his life, not his heart. My affections would only be wasted on a dog like him!"

A sharp sigh cut through the air as Minako looked away in disappointment. "Issei is wasted on someone like you."

"What was that?"

Raynare's glare sharpened like lances, piercing into Minako's very being. Anger and hatred in that gaze threatened to immolate their receiver if they could. And yet he human Minako stood there unapologetically, even when the ire of a fallen angel was wholly being placed on her. Rather she glared back and said it simply, "Issei is way out of your league."

Raynare's eyes widened into angry saucers and her nose wrinkled in her rage.

"YOU BITCH!"

BANG!

An explosion occurred in the blink of an eye, right where Minako had been standing. Raynare's right arm already poised as if she had thrown something. The rage in her body barely subsiding as the pleasure of the kill had not sunk in.

Clank

A light tap of metal resonated through the ringing explosion turned the fallen angel's attention towards a lamp post decorating the side of the cobblestone path. Shocked, she could scarcely believe that the clerk was still alive, leaning heavily against the pole with a pant of someone who had been sprinting for half a mile.

Minako's hair cast a shadow over her bowed face. "Honestly, I don't really know what's going on.", the clerk grasped the lamp post beside her tightly with one hand. "And honestly, I have no idea what you really are." the metal shaft of the post began squeal under the deforming pressure of her grip. "But I can understand one thing really clearly.", Minako grasped the bottom part of the post with her other hand. "I really hate people like you!", Minako screamed as she unceremoniously pulled up the lamp post from the concrete ground. Metal base and wiring no match against the raw strength she was putting in uprooting the object.

The girl swung it over her head and twirled it as if it were a light bamboo bow staff, not a full cast iron victorian style lamp post weighing into the tens of kilograms. She manipulated it with a control only a master should have and held it diagonally with the head down making one think she were preparing for a sweeping strike with a polearm. No signs of her losing balance or grip on the make-shift weapon; despite it weighing over half her body weight or having a shaft circumference twice as wide as her grip.

Off to the side, Issei watched jaw hanging freely as the superhuman spectacle from Minako left him speechless. Was this really the same Arisato that foiled every perverted plan he and his best friends came up with? Was this the same girl who somehow beat them up soundly without them being able to do anything about it in any case?

Perhaps it was. It would explain a lot now that Issei thought about it. All the times she carried all three of them to the infirmary after beating them, all the times she could not be physically removed from a place she had elected to stay, all the times she ran with such a speed kicking up dust on the track fields. At first Issei assumed it was just something played for laughs, an exaggeration by his eyes that this girl was inhuman. But maybe, just maybe... what if Minako Arisato really was superhumanly strong? Superhumanly fast? Superhumanly tough? Did it mean he and his friends had been fighting a hopeless battle all those times?

Whatever it may have meant then, right now it means that Arisato was pitting her uncanny strength to protect him against his ex-girlfriend who declared herself a fallen angel, and proved it not only with her black wings but feats that no human should be capable of; like throwing light lances that blow things up and putting craters in concrete just by throwing tantrums.

"That's just fine.", Raynare's face looked like it had split from the size of her grin. "I hate uppity humans like you who act tough just because you're a little strong." She lifted up her right hand above her head and gleefully hissed, "so go ahead and die without understanding anything!" She brought the one hand down and suddenly the empty air above her shimmered into action with lights raining down towards Minako.

The clerk did not hesitate to rush forward despite the ungainly weight of her makeshift weapon. One foot slammed down violently on the ground into an air rending pirouette before half the distance could even be covered. Minako spun like a tornado before slamming down the pointy lamp head at the fallen angel.

Raynare jumped back, dodging the blow and creating distance between them. The look on her face had lost its glee, replaced with a hateful sneer. "So you're a little faster than I thought."

Minako did not comment, instead retaking her stance.

RIIIIIIP

The sound of tearing cloth could be heard by everyone over the remnant scraping of the post against rock.

Raynare felt a distinct draft and looked down at herself, belatedly realizing the front of her top had been shredded, exposing her lacey black bra for all the world to see. It was likely from the sheer force of the mortal's swing, something that made her glare all the more hateful.

Though off to the side, Issei had the gal to give an appreciative wolf whistle. Minako on the other hand remained silent and reset her stance with loud twirls of the lamp post. The steel in her eyes glimmering in the fading sunlight.

"And a little stronger too.", Raynare begrudgingly added. Her nefarious grin returned as she raised both hands glowing with energy. "But can you keep up with- this?", she threw two lances of light down range with a hiss.

Minako stepped forward and wove through the two speeding projectiles as if they were stuck in the air with a wide gap in between. She brought the post up and thrust forward with a harsh battle cry.

The pole was much longer than Raynare had given it credit for so her dodge backward came up short. Instead, she slapped the pole away and countered with another light spear. Her opponent merely tipped their head to the side, letting the lance whiz past empty space less than centimeters away from the target. The lance flew over Issei and landed on the ground behind him in a loud explosion.

Minako paid the destructive result a glance, and Raynare delighted in the sudden trepidation that seeped in to the brunette girl's form. "Feeling a little bit outmatched?", Raynare grinned.

Minako turned her sights back on to her opponent before letting her own small grin appear on her face, "I don't know. I'm not the one who hasn't landed a hit yet."

That turned Raynare livid. "Neither have you; you smart-mouthed bi-"

The fallen angel could finish neither her retort nor the next light spear forming in her hand as Minako rushed in like a dance of blades. Her speed and sharpness of movement so great that the lamp post looked more like multiple swinging blades instead of a single twirling post.

Horizontal, vertical, diagonal, stomach, head, shoulder, groin, it didn't matter. The manner of attack varied as much as the targets with nary a pattern in sight. Raynare was forced to dodge the whirling mass of steel swinging around along with the occasional pokes and thrusts. By no means was the fallen angel slower than the convenience store clerk. In fact, it's only because of her superior speed that Raynare hasn't taken a single blow yet. Rather, the clerk was reading her moves and dictating the pace. It was frustrating to someone like Raynare who knew she was superior in raw spec. To be outclassed in an exchange, it was humiliating.

The fallen anel stepped back, but her frustration had made her movements stiff. She lost her footing for a moment and that was all Minako needed. She swung in with a thrust to the exposed flank, but Raynare used her superhuman reflexes to react in time to set up a block. Right when the lamp head was already half-way into its trajectory, the direction suddenly changed like a snake.

A loud bang like crack echoed in the area. A hollow thunk that echoed of metal and bone sounded out over the walkway. Minako's stance had changed, she somehow turned an outter hooking thrust to the flank into a diving overhead thrust that slammed right into Raynare's forehead.

Under the circumstances of a normal fight, this would mean the end. Heck, without any protective gear it would be possible that the one hit would suffer a fractured skull, brain injury and maybe even death, and that's with a wooden training stick. But this fight was not normal in the least, the fact the attacker was using a lamp post instead of a proper naginata and the black wings of the one hit. The circumstances were not normal at all; which is why it wasn't surprising when the fallen angel's head that had snapped back from the attack turned its attention back to the lamp wielding clerk. An angry red mark was showing on the middle of the forehead of the fallen angel, as if she just suffered one too many forehead flicks. On the other hand, the brunette wielding the lamp post twirled her unconventional weapon of choice into a relaxed stance and a serene smile.

"Hit, _men_. One point.", she declared cheekily while holding a up a single finger.

Raynare frowned, the fringe of her hair falling over her reddened forehead while casting a shadow over her face. "Bitch.", she whispered.

The fallen angel's hands flickered to life with dark divine energy and the next second Minako knew, she was dodging light javelins left and right. Her footwork already at the limits of what bipedal beings should be capable of before she started using her lamp as a sort of balancing weight and vaulting pole in one, maximizing her abnormal agility.

Raynare saw the agile display reminiscent of a monkey and her rage boiled over. "Stop mocking me!", she screamed before her bolts rained harder and faster. Stronger as well if the way the lances began to explode now as they slammed into the surrounding area instead of vaporizing patches of grass.

Minako was beginning to sweat. The lone witness of this match saw that Minako was beginning to grow hesitant of her steps. Her movements getting stiffer and stiffer as the bombardment went on. Issei wondered if even with that inhuman physical capacity, even someone like Arisato could not hold out against a higher existence. Wait... that wasn't right. Just earlier, Minako was completely pressing her advantage, it almost looked like there was no way for Raynare to win. Even when the fallen angel started throwing these lances, it looked like Minako had only begun to put in effort. Rather than struggle, Issei would say she looked more like she was playing around, not an ounce of desperation in the air around her. Perhaps what was so amazing about it was that even someone who knew nothing about fighting like him could tell. But now, the way Minako was moving less and less made Issei uneasy. Why?

A lance of light exploded nearby and Issei had to cover his face with his arms. Debris flew furiously in the whipping wind. Rocks sent flying fast enough to be called shrapnel went flying every which way, scratching at his clothes. This was really getting dangerous not just for Minako but him as well. He looked to see how she was doing after that last attack and he caught her eyes as she paused in front of him. The world seemed to stop, he could hear his heart beating as the sound of angry winds and explosions continued in slow motion and a few tones too low. Her brandy colored gaze scrutinized him, as if gauging something then she quickly looked away before leaping towards the far side away from him.

Time moved on normally for Issei and he wondered what that was all about. Another explosion happened nearby, almost throwing him off his vertical base. "Geez, what's with all these explosions? I'm trying to think here! They've been getting closer and clos-" Issei stopped mid-sentence when it finally clicked. The reason why Minako was getting more and more stifled in her movements. The reason is-

"Hahaha! Are you honestly trying to protect that trash?", Raynare suddenly screamed in laughter. She saw it. The way that monkey girl moved more and more sloppily, more and more closed in as if options were becoming lost. The fallen angel had realized it when she caught the girl sneaking a not subtle enough peek to her questionably former boyfriend. The monkey girl was afraid Issei would get caught in the cross fire.

Raynare continued to pelt the abnormal human with her light javelins as a victorious sneer emerged on her face. "Aaah, my hand slipped!", she sang playfully as a lance fired far-off the trajectory of its brethren.

Minako quickly recognized the direction it was headed and dove through the mass of lights. In one quick motion she landed with her pole arm out stretched.

BANG!

A large explosion sounded out as the lamp post smashed into the light javelin.

A malevolent smile split the fallen angel's face. She knew that the girl would reach in time, she had thrown the light spear just slowly enough for her to do so. The fool would have probably tried to block but it would have all ended the same. The lances she'd been firing were so charged with energy that they would explode on impact. And my what impressive impact did that girl's pole-arm have. Raynare touched at her throbbing forehead. Even with her stance as the winner, she could still feel her head ache and the repeated generation of spears was beginning to take its toll. Her chest was already heaving from the exertion.

In the dust and smoke that rose from the explosion, the sound of howling wind sang out. Raynare's eyes widened and so did the eyes of a terrified Issei. Wind continued to howl as the sound became clearer and crisper, enough to recognize the hollow tone accompanying the song. It was the sound of a twirling staff; and with one final swing, a lamp post dispelled the floating dust to show a worse for wear Minako Arisato. One of her uniform's sleeves was gone up to her shoulders exposing a partly singed bra-strap. Multiple cuts and soot covered burns littered her sides and even tearing up her leggings to the point the right one may as well not be there at all. She was bloody, she was burnt but she was still alive.

Something Raynare noticed but loathed to admit was how the injured mortal didn't even seem winded while she was barely able to stabilize her breathing. It pissed her off and just wanted that human gone. So she threw another lance towards Issei, expecting the girl to do something to intercept the energy attack once again to an ill effect.

Minako parried it with the lamp post, but this time it didn't explode. It merely veered off course and smashed into the ground a clean ninety degree angle from the original flight path.

That didn't go quite as planned. Raynare hesitated, catching her breath, before she tossed another lance towards Issei with a flick of her wrist. She watched the young man cower the instant he saw the etheral blade, then a blur came in between. A metallic thunk and ear splitting screech echoed and once more the lance of light was parried. Raynare followed the deflected light weapon fly upwards before blowing up into an impressive display of force. Her eyes rested on the girl once again. What the human was doing was... impossible. To be able to tap the shaft of the lance exactly so as not to set-off the warhead- There was no other word for this. She grit her teeth. It was impossible for a human to match an angel, impossible impossible impossible. Even if they gained the favor of those damnable devils there should be no way any human could be a match for an angel much less a fallen angel!

Minako stepped back as lights began to rain once more. She brought up her makeshift weapon up to parry the first one, then down to swat the second one, the third was swept to the side and the fourth, and then the fifth, sixth, seventh- The number of lances she blocked grew and this time Minako did not have the option to dodge. If only because the second she did, the person behind her would suffer the consequences. So she stood her ground and braved the onslaught, acting as a shield.

Raynare was beginning to see the disadvantages of her strategy now. The velocity of her lances, the explosive energy in each one, they were all visibly lessening. This was fast becoming a battle of attrition and the clerk was showing little sign of slowing down. What's more, because she was aiming for Issei more than Minako, Raynare's target areas were limited. Allowing for a pattern to form which was easier to defend. Even sneaking in lances directly targeting the girl were being properly deflected. If there was any solace in this situation, it would be the small nicks and scratches Raynare was scoring all over the girl. But this had to end, and she had to push for that finale.

With one final heave, Raynare pushed the last lance of her salvo in Issei's direction. Minako predictably intercepted, but paused in confusion when she brought her weapon up for the next parry. There was nothing there to block, and that was because Raynare took that passing beat to charge up a massive lance of light in her hand.

"Let's see you stop this." the fallen angel gloated for a second before chucking the thing down range, dead and center.

Minako blanched at the sheer size and energy of the oncoming projectile. She dared not whack it away like she did the others. Her only recourse was to steer it away. So she jumped backwards, leaning back as if trying to lie on the ground. The lance quickly gained on her position. She only had one chance to get this right or else the person behind her was dead.

As the energy lance sailed above her, Minako raised her lamp post like a handle bar. Just below where the blade head of the lance was, she made contact with the physical limits of speed and finesse she could drag out of her body. Once contact was made, she nudged it upwards and the most horrifying screech of steel and welding torches met her ears. Heat began to creep up the body of the lamp due to prolonged seconds of contact but Minako held on as she watched the beam curve its flight upwards. Her makeshift weapon gave in to the heat and melted where the light weapon made contact.

Minako fell down on the soft grass as her hands burned from the scalding heat of the metal in her hands. If one looked close enough, one would realize that the steel was already deformed and warped in practically all places. Assumedly because of repeated contact with energy attacks without any mystic empowerment of its own. The girl barely had a moment to consider abandoning the broken weapon when a shadow draped over her prone form.

Raynare was upon Minako in a moment, energy lance in hand much smaller than the ones she threw but none the less deadly. She stabbed it downward with a scream expressing the amount of hatred she had for her target. The fallen brunette responded in kind, bringing up the lower half of the lamp post to bat Raynare away.

Minako's scream was strained and clearly too shrill to be a battle cry. She was in pain, but the girl did not falter. The girl forced herself on her feet, one hand now free as she lost her grip on the half she used to hit the fallen angel. It had flew away quite a distance, but that was fine. The half of the post with the lamp head was more than enough with a length slightly less than three-quarters of her height. She used the remains of her weapon as a support for her shaking legs, the exertion and piling injuries finally making themselves known to her adrenaline fueled body. Likely her endorphins finally finished running their course.

The superhuman clerk grunted in exertion as she barely got her guard up in time for another clash with a speeding fallen angel. Her makeshift weapon locking with the double-headed lance of light in Raynare's hands.

"Quite the look you're sporting monkey." Raynare sneered gleefully at all the cuts, gashes and leaking blood over Minako's face and body.

"You're not looking too well yourself." Minako grinned back at the pale ashen hue of the fallen angel's face. "Want a moment your catch your breath?" she mocked.

The fallen angel only grinned back, "Speak for yourself."

Their clash broke and the weapons met again in a blur of lights and public utility infrastructure. Once more those haunting screeches came in a staccato symphony. Energy meeting steel in intermittent showers of could hear the steel warping on contact, telling of the fact the lamp post was not holding well against the aura formed lance. The energy acting like a mix between a soldering rod and buzz saw's illegitimate child.

Minako's grip on her weapon was growing lax. Her hands were burnt from holding the metal piece heated to the point of melting steel. By normal human standards, she should be screaming in pain right now but Minako held back such impulses and kept fighting as the skin of her palms sizzled. The burns had long gone past the stage of stinging and had now reached numbness. She could not feel anything in her palms, not the solid touch of metal nor the burn of hot iron. Her hold was fierce with excessive effort. Her twirls and strikes losing grandiose and masterful grace; replaced by stiff and powerful strokes.

It wasn't long till Minako made an unforced error. With the metal already softened from heat and her numb superhuman grip, the pole arm user struck out with a one handed strike that made use of her momentum and the staff's weight. Raynare simply parried the strike and Minako attempted to recover into a two-handed grip. However when she reached out with her free-hand, she grabbed too tightly and the shaft slipped out from between her fingers.

A few seconds were wasted in trying to recover and that was seen by the fallen angel as a perfect moment to strike. Raynare lunged forward with her lance intent on stabbing Minako through the head. The brunette shifted to the side in an evasive maneuver, and used her leg to kick up the fallen lamp post head right into the chin of an unsuspecting Raynare. The fallen angel snapped back with a retaliatory throw of her lance. The range was too close for Minako to effectively parry and the trajectory had not changed from before aiming towards Issei. The mortal only had one choice as she jumped in the way of the lance. Fortunately, it wasn't explosively charged as it buried itself in her naked shoulder, searing flesh and instantly cauterizing the resulting wound.

The wound burned enough to make Minako cry out from the pain as she recoiled with tears gathered at the corner of her eyes. She saw Raynare charging up another lance with sights still set on the male brunette. So Minako grit her teeth and screamed "Issei-kun run!", before using her one good arm to violently lash out at the mid-air fel angel.

Raynare's lance had already formed and the impact that sent her flying away only served to skew her aim mid-throw. Instead of going towards Issei, the lance spiked a few degrees downwards right through the gut of Minako Arisato.


	4. Chapter 4

Issei watched the fallen angel dig a deep furrow into the ground with her body as she fell with all the velocity of a missile. That didn't hold his attention too long though as the screams that tore out Minako's throat rattled the priorities of his attention.

He ran towards her, worriedly screaming her name. The complete opposite to what she had commanded him to do while he stood transfixed with fear. His feet scrambled over the terrain uneven with all the explosions tossed about, and he practically fell to Minako's side as he took her in his arms. She was still screaming, and folding into herself. The pain so great that even with her exhibited superhuman constitution, she could not help but utterly break down.

She was flailing in her agony, deathgrip on the makeshift weapon long relinquished in her struggles against a phantom foe she could not beat away. Issei felt her hands hit his chest, but they had none of the hammer like impact he expected them to have, not after what he'd seen. With every passing moment it felt like he was cradling a struggling child in his arms than a growing young woman. It frightened him more than he thought it would, more than dying, more than being rejected by Yuuma when he convinced himself the fallen angel was his soulmate.

This was terrifying to him on a whole new level because Minako Arisato had been the invincible wall in his life. She always stood in his and his compatriots' way, the consistent mountain they had to overcome in order to achieve their goals. He didn't hate her for it, no. Rather, he had been secretly relishing the challenge. Secret even to himself. Losing her was losing a daily part of his life. It was at this moment where Issei realized exactly how important Minako was to him.

Issei determinedly grabbed the one hand flailing about and held it strongly in his. "Arisato! Arisato!" She did not respond and continued to thrash about. He squeezed her hand and pressed it palm flat against her abdomen's cauterized wound. "Minako!"

Her screams began to wane, Minako's glassy gaze began to focus and she blinked a few times before she successfully fought off the pain and stuttered out a single word. "Issei...kun?"

The young man smiled in relief. Gladness gave a soft edge to his lips as he nodded, "Yeah, it's me Arisato."

"That's... great... I'm- glad." she continued to force out through stabs of pain evident on her laboured expression. It quickly took on the look of sternness though and she had enough energy to scold, "Why didn't you-guh- run away?"

Issei held her hand tightly, "I couldn't leve you like this." Then he gave a wry smile before continuing, "besides, I was so scared I couldn't move."

That got a laugh out of Minako. The pleasant sound prompting Issei to give a chuckle of his own. That moment was cut short by Minako's giggles turning into a coughing fit with blood leaping off her tongue.

"Arisato!", Issei shouted in alarm. "Stay with me!"

The arm connected to the roasted shoulder reached up shakily and gripped Issei's sleeve with a shaky grip. "Don't... worry...", Minako reassured him in a shaky rasp. "I'm okay."

Issei wanted to say that she wasn't, that her shoulder was burnt through and she had a hole in her stomach the size of his fist. But he didn't say those, instead he just nodded, "Yeah. You're okay."

Minako nodded, "Good." She bit back a scream as every fiber of her being protested her action of getting up. She stood on wobbly feet, a testament to her willpower as the totality ofher wounds would have killed a man three time over. In the end, reality won over willpower and the injured girl tipped over. Warm arms caught her as she leaned into the solid body that saved her from the fall She breathed heavily and turned to her savior with half-focused eyes and a shaky smile, "You should get out of here. I have to finish this."

"Finish?", Issei grunted as he held her steady, "But Yuuma's already-"

Crumbling dirt and crunching grass sounded meters away from the two. The pair's eyes snapping towards the crash site of the fallen angel who was now recovering from the intense impact.

"This is ridiculous.", Issei breathed.

This wasn't fair at all. Minako looked like she'd been tossed through the grinder, coming out less than worst for wear. Raynare on the other hand had no visible wounds. Not even a bruise on the forehead which should have been caved in from the strength of the hit it took, with a lamp post no less! The only thing indicative of anything bad ever happening to the fallen angel was the torn top and harsh breathing which was more telling of a mad rush through the woods instead of combat capable of landscaping a small prairie.

Issei caught Minako's eye and told her firmly, "We have to get out of here."

The girl shook her head, "We won't be fast enough." She smiled sweetly, reaching up with her one good hand in an attempt at comfort, "I'll slow her down while you get away okay?"

"You're hurt.", Issei simply pointed out.

Minako gave a small laugh, "Didn't you see? I'm a lot tougher than I look."

"I'm looking right now and all I see is you badly hurt!", Issei finally let loose in frustration. "Why can't you care about yourself for a minute instead of me? This whole time, the reason you couldn't fight back correctly, the reason you're hurt like this, and the reason you want to stay behind. It's all me isn't it? You don't want me to get hurt. You care even if I don't deserve it! I was horrible to you not even an hour ago and here you are trying to give your life for me." A lone tear dropped down the corner of Issei's right eye. "Stop it with these shonen hero one liners and heroic sacrifices. I should be the only shonen hero around here! I should be the one with the awesome powers, saving damsels and turning them into part of my harem! I should be the one saying cheesy one liners and striking cool poses. I should be the one to sacrifice their life." Issei bowed his head in powerless despair, "I- I still have to make things up to you."

"But what can you do for me now Issei?", she looked at him with sadness and regret. "Fighting will only end up with both of us dying and all this struggle would've been for nothing. I'm already one foot in the grave but you still have all the chances to get away."

His gaze fell over the myriad wounds all over Minako's body. All the exposed skin he would normally salivate over in lust now marred with guilt inducing and nauseating wounds of such horrific kin that he was surprised he hadn't thrown up yet. Issei felt horrible and it showed on his face.

"Look.", Minako plastered on a forced but genuine smile, "I don't hate you. I don't blame you. To me, you are still an irreplaceable friend, that's why I chose to protect you as I fought. The reason I fought, the reason I continued to fight wasn't just to protect you but also your heart. So please, don't make this kind of face now."

…

"I want to protect you."

Minako's brandy tinted eyes widened at the declaration. "Issei-", she breathed his name in surprise.

The young man did not meet her searching gaze, but he spoke. "You asked me what I can do, but the only answer I had was _nothing_. I can't do anything. So instead I asked myself what I wanted to do and there was only one answer.", he raised his head as if to show her the determination in his eyes, "I want to protect you."

Minako was surprised. She had expected him to say something like that, but not with such intensity; not with such spirited eyes. She watched him for a moment, once more searching. Then she smiled, "Looks like you're resolved to do this." She said this in resignation.

Issei nodded with no hesitation, "I am."

"You're not rushing into it either. You really thought about this.", Minako continued.

"I did."

The clerk looked up at him, her smile not leaving. He was serious and nothing she could say would change his mind. Ofcourse, she could not possibly leave this to him in good conscience. He was a normal person, fighting against something even her superhuman strength could not overcome. But something in Issei's eyes made her believe. There was strength inside him that had not been tapped trying to burst out. Maybe it was just his bravado but for some reason Minako wanted to trust him on this one.

She raised one hand and Issei gave her an odd look before copying her stance. She quickly snapped forward and clapped that raised hand with her own in a high five. "I'm tagging you in.". She stepped past the shocked young man, her words quietly echoing in his ear, "It's your turn this time, shonen hero."

Issei turned to follow her with his eyes but saw her fall unconscious moments after passing the fight to him. He caught her in his arms before she hit the ground and gently laid her down. Despite the sudden sedation by all her wounds, Minako looked peaceful. As if she'd fallen asleep instead of fainting mid-step. With an angry sigh Issei promised this girl, "I got it." He looked up to glare at the recovering fallen angel. "This time, I'll be the hero and save you. No, I'll save us!" Issei got up and stood between his ex-girlfriend and the girl who protected him.

Raynare was pissed. She could not believe that a human could push her this far. No, she refused to believe it! Even though the fallen angel had incurred no wounds in their skirmish thus far, the human had struck her clean twice. That was unthinkable to someone like her who should be worlds above that vermin. She was a fallen angel for cryng out loud while that child was human. "Graaaagh!", she screamed.

The angry fallen grabbed at the ruined front of her shirt and tore the whole thing off cleanly. The uneven draft and the sticky flapping of soil encrusted cloth was annoying her. She kicked the damp ruined rag in her temper and would have proceeded in vaporizing if she wasn't so spent from this damned fight.

As much as Raynare did not want to admit it, she was running low on energy; and she meant dangerously low. The fallen felt that she could probably make only about two or three more energy lances solid enough to throw; and those would be inert save for their natural holy properties. After that she would have to resort to killing with her bare-hands or force herself to make more lances, another one of which would make her faint from the strain.

Raynare screamed, livid in remembering exactly in how dire straights she was placed just because of a human.

She threw a venomous glare to her opponent, hungry for the end of this farce. But instead her eyes beheld that the impudent girl was down. Lying on the ground like a corpse prepared for its burial was the girl. Confusion and a sharp sense of joy crashed into her horrid mood for a second. The mortal was down, but she spotted the only other human standing before her and those emotions battling for dominance fell in line to give amusement enough leeway to plant a sadistic grin on her face.

"Kukukukukukukukuku kahahahahahahahaha!", Raynare tilted her head back with unrestrained laughter. "Finally.", she ranted, "Finally!" She leveled a glare in Minako's direction, "Guess humans still are a frail bunch." The fallen continued to shake in her mirth. "Just goes to show how worthless maggots like you really are. Truly not worth the love given to you by the great Father. Hahahahahahaha!", Raynare spread her arms and wings, "Come now human! Where is your bravado? You talked earlier as if you were my superior but look at you now. Dead."

"She's not dead."

"-!?"

Issei had watched the spectacle of Raynare taunting the unconscious Minako long enough. "Minako's not dead", the young man repeated.

"Oh?", Raynare paused in mock surprise. "Then I should probably fix that. After all, lying is a sin."

"Shut up! You're not laying a finger on her anymore!", the young man courageously stepped forth. "I won't let you have your way Yuuma."

Pffftt..." Raynare suddenly sounded, "Ahahahahaha!", and laughed. "Do you- Do you even hear yourself talk? That's so lame", Raynare taunted. "I've better heard lines from lesser mortals. You won't let me have my way? Do you honestly think you have the kind of power to back those words up? Or maybe you think _the power of love between Yuuma and Issei _will conquer all odds?"

Issei's curled fists held even tighter. He knew the task was impossible, he didn't have even a quarter of the strength Minako had but...

_I asked myself what I wanted to do and there was only one answer._

But...

_I want to protect you._

But-

_I'm tagging you in._

But!

_It's your turn this time, shonen hero._

Issei faced forward, whatever ignorance and naivety was on his face before. All of that shifted now into one emotion, one thought and one purpose: determination. "But that girl trusted me.", he said more to himself than Raynare, "Even though she knew full well I didn't have any kind of power, she trusted me." He clutched at his heart, wondering why he felt warmth flow from it. Empowering warmth that spread from the core of his very being to the tips of his fingers. "So... I'm going!"

Issei rushed forward fast as his feet could carry him. His throat screaming out his resolve as he took a clumsy swing at the girl he though he would love for the rest of his life. His wild swing missed with a simple side-step from Raynare. She stuck one foot out and easily tripped up the young man.

To his credit, Issei had managed to recover his balance well enough not to fall flat on his face. He turned back only to see the fallen angel's taunting face. She did not attack him with his back turned, showing how little she regarded him as a threat. Raynare even bade him come hither with one finger before dragging it seductively over her pale chest and right to the edge of her bra cup, mockingly taunting him to take a peek.

For some reason that only angered Issei. She was mocking the ease of manipulating him with lust. And for some reason when he thought of that he could only see the figure of Minako laying on the grass, scorched, wounded, dying. All because she was trying to protect him from some otherworldly murderer out for his head. A murderer that made him fall for her just by acting a little cute and rubbing up to him. Even his perverted friends had warned him! Why was he such an idiot?

He charged forward, again in vain and Raynare just smiled, took her sweet time in lowering the bra cup less than a millimeter to scandalous before dancing around Issei's lumbering punch. Clearly the young man wasn't a fighter. This time Issei didn't miss a beat and spun around to throw a wide swing, hoping to catch her somehow.

As many times Issei tries to hit her, he fails each attempt only to end with her dancing around him every single time. Sometimes with a mocking bump, slap, poke or tripping foot. It could not be clearer that she was toying with him.

"You know.", Raynare dodged once more with ease. "You're putting in more effort than I thought you would." the fallen began to laugh gleefully. "Are you really fighting for that girl? To fight so desperately, I can only imagine it's because you're terrified of dying."

The thought never came to Issei. Sure, at first he was afraid, but now there was something far more terrifying stirring in his gut. He knew he couldn't fail because of that feeling. It wasn't death, but something far more terrifying.

Raynare laughed as she had a little more fun with her prey. She dodged Issei's short right straight and pulled him in with one arm. She held him close to her half-naked body and seductively whispered in his ear, "You know. Throwing that kind of punch usually requires you stepping in."

The fallen could see the indignant teen's retort being prepared and she shoved him roughly before he could get it out. That meant sending him flying a good half dozen meters skidding into grass.

"You know, I was planning to kill you _real _quickly.", Raynare tossed backwild strands of hair hanging before her eyes. "But I've changed my mind.", her smiled turned sickeningly sweet, "I'm going to drag this out as long as I can. After seeing that girl so broken. I feel like playing a little hihihihi!"

Fingers bunched up into a fist, curling into the soil.

"First I'm going to kill you, then I'll tear that girl limb from limb."

The fist shook.

"No, maybe I'll kill her first and make you watch!"

It tore into the toughened soil as if none of it was reinforced by the interlacing network of grass roots.

"Ah! I know the perfect way to end this date.", Raynare clapped her hands. "Why don't I rape that girl in front of you then take off her head? I'll even let you kiss her before you suffer the same fate." She smiled dreamily as she imagined the scene. "Oh, which mouth would you like to kiss though? I'm sure it would be _that _one right? Hahahaha!"

Issei pushed himself off the soil. That feeling in his stomach that he'd been pushing down since Raynare's question finally surging forth. She asked him if he were afraid to die; he wasn't. He was terrified of something else. He was terrified of being powerless, of being stuck as the guy watching the girl protect him. He was terrified he couldn't protect Minako. And hearing all of Raynare' intentions, he just-

He slammed one angry fist into the ground.

_I want power_

THUMP

_I want to be stronger_

THUMP

_I want to win_

THUMP

_I want to protect someone_

Issei turned his glare to Raynare.

_I want to be the hero!_

As if something in the deepest reaches of his soul responded, the warmth from before that empowered him came back. Only this time more intense. It was no longer the gentle heat from before. Now, it felt like a scorching flame. He stood up, but felt no pain. It was hot but not burning. Intense but not painful. It was destructive but creating. Annihilating that calm reasoning that proclaimed the truth of "Hyoudou Issei cannot win against the fallen angel Raynare." and creating an unreasonable confidence that said "I will be the hero!"

Raynare on the other hand could not sense the changing air around the human Issei. She was too busy, fussing over carrying out her plans. "Oh", she thought out loud, "If I'm going to be doing something so fun, I should probably change into something more comfortable." She smiled and let what little clothes she was wearing disappear in a flash of light. She let her nudity linger for a second too long, hoping to elicit some kind of reaction out of the pervert but nothing.

Too bad for him, her body was to die for.

With an audible pop and flashes of purple light, strips of back leather formed themselves into things that could barely qualify as clothes. Wrapping around the fel angel's breasts and crotch in strips so thin she may as well be just wearing a collection of band-aids. The ensemble was made only slightly ominous with the inclusion of chain links that kept them together and spiked pauldrons you'd only see in a post-apocalyptic setting. Raynare took a step forward in newly formed black leather boots, "Now I'm fully prepared to violate that little flower, don't you think?"

Issei still did not show any sign of replying. Heck he showed no sign of comprehending any of the fallen's words or actions save for the gleam in his eyes.

Raynare finally paused, her good mood dissolving into an unsightly glare as she howled to the human, "What the hell is with this silent act? Are you trying to act all cool now? And those sickening eyes- Do you realy think you still stand a chance against me? Face reality!"

"Yeah.", Issei nodded, "I'll face reality." He held up his right hand, burning with an itch to sink it right into the black-winged one's cheek. "I'll face the reality where I become a hero!" grim determination faded into a lop-sided grin as a promise crossed his mind, "A shonen hero!"

"Shonen hero?", Raynare sneered. "Is that so?", she paused in her distaste and smiled. She spread out her arms and wings grandiosely as if to embrace him. "Come at me then! Show me if you can really be a hero! And I will show you exactly where you stand dog! Licking the soles of my boot."

Issei did not honor that with a response. He merely pulled back his right arm and leveled his fist with his head. "Here I come."

Issei rushed forward as did Raynare. As a matter of humor, she thought to let Issei know the pain of being stabbed by a lance of light. Little energy as she had, she believed there was no way he could dodge it. So she drew energy into her hand and formed it into one lance. She let it sail, barely using any strength in the throw. Even if she was lazy in the execution, there was no way a weak human like Issei could dodge her attack.

He defied her expectations completely when his eyes widened a fraction and kicked off one foot in a strafe. The lance didn't even nick the boy's shoe as it glided by the young man's leg in what should have been a pinning impalement. Surprise from such an event caused Raynare to backpedal to a stop. It only served to encourage Issei though and he continued his charge with resolve in every step.

_Impossible- Not again! This can't be happening again!_

Raynare couldn't believe that Issei had dodged her lance. He couldn't have- No! It was luck, just dumb luck. She was just careless, that's right, _careless_. In the next second after that lance, she produced her next lance and resolved to properly throw it. She let the energy fly before Issei could take the next step after that dodge. He would not be able to move in mid-air at that speed. Raynare would hit him in the shoulder and it would be her victory. However she did not take into account maneuvering, because Issei crumpled out of the way and fell into a roll on the ground, leaving the lance without a target.

_Again! This- GRAAAAAGH!_

Images of the earlier fight came back to Raynare. The way Minako stood against her confidently, matching her movements, dodging and deflecting her attacks like they stood still in the face of her perception. It was infuriating, as much as it was terrifying. Did humans really have this potential?

Raynare's mask of confidence broke down into something akin to panic. "No! I won't accept this!", she roared as the steel in Issei's eyes echoed that of which she saw in the girl.

Issei ended the roll in a stand. He didn't know why but a fall like that would have normally hurt him, but he didn't feel it at all this time. All he could feel was the heat, the gathering formless flame in his limbs that propelled him forward. He read on some forums that people during great stress or great pleasure release chemicals in the body that makes them do amazing things. He wondered if he was feeling the same kind of thing? Everything was kind of slowing down and every breath he took felt very meticulous to his mind, perfectly planned and optimized. But his dash forward was anything but clean. He watched the fear grow in the fel angel's eyes and the third lance of light that materialized in her hand. That wouldn't help her.

He was slow, oh so slow compared to what she was used to. But the ferocity in his steps, the memory of that girl dodging her attacks, of meeting a match in a mere human. It inspired dread Raynare never knew existed inside of her. It made her doubt the core truth of her existence. It made her think that maybe she was less than these humans, weaker, less worthy of being loved, useless.

"I'm superior to you damned little humans!", she roared with a snap of her wrist sending the spear flying true.

The thing with being closer to an enemy dependent of ranged combat was not an advantage in terms of getting too close for that ranged weapon to attack. Issei had not known it but his instincts had led him on to the secondary advantage of getting close in with a ranged attacker, and that was the ease of reading the incoming attack. The surging youth did not plan or realize it at all, but everything clicked in his mind as natural as breathing, as seeing, as feeling. The way Raynare raised her hand, the position of her shoulder, the way her arm was swinging. He could easily identify the direction it would go and with his foot firmly planted on the ground, he was in a position to go anywhere but in that spear's path.

The lance flew straight for his abdomen and Raynare could see the young man could dodge neither left nor right because positioning and velocity wise, the spear would still clip him in the flank. Advantage was hers. But once again he defied her expectations. He moved neither left nor right, he jumped! The spear flew at a light descent and Issei used that to his advantage. With the lance aimed right above his groin, jumping with the correct timing would put the lance right between his legs.

Of course things never seem quite to go according to plan. The lance connected and pierced Issei's left thigh. There should have been enough force to run is limb through but the lance was stuck in there, burning his flesh. Force that should have cleanly allowed the spear to enter and exit freely dissipated in mid-air and forced Issei into a spin. Pain coursed through Issei's body like venom, but the heat was still greater. He fought down that horrific agony and let it mix with his anger and anguish in one cry of battle as he crossed the remaining distance between him and Raynare.

"OORRRAAAAAAAA!"

"DON'T GET COCKY!"

Raising her arms up was futile, but rage and indignation had already consumed Raynare. There was very little sense left in her as she prepared a fourth energy spear that should have been clearly beyond her current stores of energy. She watched him extend his right arm in a fist reaching out to punch her. And she raised her own malformed lance to strike him.

A flash of red lights and sparks blinded the fel angel for a fraction of a moment. Then she felt it before she could see it. Red armor braced around the dog's arm. A fully scaled crimson bracer with a green gem encrusted at the back of his palm.

_Sacred Gear_

Fist slammed into cheek and lance pierced lung as both combatant exchanged attacks. Issei cracked back like a whip, coughing up blood as he did so. But Raynare was not much better off. Defying the laws of physics, a secondary phantom blow exploded against a dazed Raynare's cheek like a delayed reaction that sent her flying through a copse of old hardened trees. The sounds of ancient wooden trunks snapping rumbled like thunder off in the distance. The distance of her flight could be seen from the length of the dust trail kicked up by all the fallen timber.

Issei fell to the ground, coughing up blood. The burning lances of light had dissipated and were no longer plugging up his wounds. Prolonged contact didn't allow for cauterization so he ended up bleeding from two holes the size of ping pong balls on his chest and on his thigh. Whatever high was empowering him back then was gone. Blunted pain which he hadn't noticed until now became as apparent as sticking a hot knife through his eye. But for all that pain, Issei could not scream. He couldn't even breath, what with one piereced lung and all.

He fought for what little air he could get and tried getting up to no avail. Issei cursed in his mind. He just punched Raynare once. That shouldn't have been enough to beat her. At least, that's what should have been his natural way of thinking. The only thing running through his mind in regards to Raynare was that it was all done. He won. And for all his poor academics, Issei was smart enough to not believe that gut instinct at once. But while he was in the air he could see the trail of destruction Raynare made as she cut down tree after tree with her own body. Seeing as she hadn't recovered already and killed him, he assumed she must've been dead or at least incapacitated.

Issei raised his right arm and stared at it. It was red with blood, not with scales. The young man swore he saw red scales on his arms when he hit the fallen angel, but they weren't there now. He closed his eyes and decided to think about it later. Right now he had to get himself and Minako to the hospital.

…

Oh sh-

Issei remembered that he couldn't move. The wounds to his body were bad and with the pain numbing strength from before gone, he was completely out of energy. Thinking on it now, it was amazing for him to have even lifted his arm up for inspection.

Struggling, he turned his head from his place on the ground to catch a glimpse of the fallen Minako. Her body was still covered in all those brutal cuts and burns. He had to get them to the hospital somehow or else they were both dead. All that struggling for nothing.

Crap. If this is the result then what the heck was he fighting for?

Such were Issei's last thoughts as exhaustion kicked in and his world faded to black.

Buried beneath lumber, Raynare lay immobile. She had used too much energy making that last lance and now she was suffering for it with the inability to move. Compared to her adversaries, she had gotten off light. A bruise from the punch she receive in exchange for sticking that lance and nothing more. But still, a defeat is a defeat and for a fallen angel like her, that should have been something to be raving death about.

"So that was it.", she breathed. "That was the sacred gear Azazel had been so worried about. Hahahahaha."

Instead she was laughing happily.

"I knew those sacred gears were amazing but to think a filthy human could transcend the difference in power with them.", the fel angel grinned, "What more of fallen?"

When Issei opened his eyes, the first thing that came out of his mouth was-

"ARISATO!"

Not surprising when you consider the last thing he saw was the still wounded form of his classmate. He looked around and realized that he was no longer in the park. Pain arced through his chest and he grabbed at it in reflex. He was perplexed to feel gauze instead of cotton. Looking down, he realized that he was all bandaged up over his bare chest. Looking around, he also realized that despite the sheer whiteness of the room, this was not heaven at all. It looked like a hospital room, only far too small. Besides, what kind of heaven would it be if all the angels looked like Arisato? Just like the one sleeping at his bedside-

Wait what?

Issei's eyes snapped onto the smaller form of a girl curling up onto his cot from the chair she sat on. The coppery red brown ponytail was telling. There was no mistaking this girl for anyone other than Minako Arisato.

On the surface, she looked no worse than the usual wearing her Kuoh Academy uniform. But underneath her collar, Issei could see bandages. She was still hurt and yet she was tending to him. It touched his heart and his hand automatically moved to pat her on the head in tha-

WHAT THE HELL KIND OF SHOUJO MANGA DEVELOPMENT WAS THIS!?

Pain throbbed in Issei's head as the room spun with vertigo. He grabbed at it in alarm, wondering if he somehow got a head injury because he didn't remember getting clocked there.

"You shouldn't move so much. You've been out for a week and sudden movements will just cause blood to rush to your head. Whatever dizziness you feel now is only natural.", a scruffy old man entered through the only door in the room.

Though Issei described him as scruffy, that was only as far as the stubbled face of the man. The man seemed to be in his mid-thirties, but carried himself with all the importance of a teenager. He was odd but there was still something plenty dignified about him. Perhaps the weird ensemble of a plain kimono worn underneath a lab coat had something to do with it.

The man noticed Issei's studying gaze and smiled easily. "There's no need to be so confused. I'm the proprietor of this clinic you're in."

"So... you're a doctor?", Issei tried.

"Geez... he's your doctor. Be a bit more respectful would you?", another voice drawled into the conversation. It was a young man around Issei's age. Unlike Issei who had dark brown hair in rising spikes, the other teen had sandy blonde hair in a spiky mop.

Brown eyes snapped into attention to the elder man. "Oh, I see. Sorry if I was being rude.", the injured youth bowed, "I'm really thankful for the help."

The man waved it off and smiled, "No problem. Just doing my part to help."

Issei let the doctor check the nearby drip bag and charts while he squinted his eyes, trying to get a fix on the new entrant. The new guy looked very familiar to him. "Do I know you?", the bed-ridden teen questioned his standing counterpart.

The young man was just hanging up his blazer when he fixed Issei with an annoyed glance. "I'm Saji Genshirou. Minako's co-worker at 24/7. I go to Kuoh just like you."

Recognition lit up in Issei's eyes. "You're the guy who hangs around Arisato right? I see you two together a lot of times."

Saji didn't look the least bit happy in being recognized but Issei didn't notice. He nodded stiffly, "That's not hard to believe. I see you being dragged around a lot by Minako-san too."

"Hasn't the whole school?", Issei laughed awkwardly at the embarrassing confession.

It was a fact everyone saw him and the rest of the perverted trio being beaten around by Minako whenever they tried to peek on any of the girls. It was easy to put up bravado when nobody was asking about it. Heck they were even proud of their exploits. But to be confronted, even subtly, was a bit harder to swallow than he thought.

…

School...

"Ah!", Issei suddenly screamed, surprising the doctor who was now holding a stethoscope to the young man's chest, checking for any problems with the punctured lung. He turned to the surprised elder gentleman and asked, "You said that I was here for a week already right?"

The doctor blinked a few times in confusion, "Well... yes. That should be obvious with your injuries."

The panicked youth grabbed at his head. "Crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. I've been missing from school for a week and my parents must be looking for me right no-"

"I told your parents the school had you take a month long study camp with a classmate because your grades were so abysmal. Thankfully, with your records they believed it all too easily.", Saji interjected. "As for the school... we listed you under dengue fever."

"That's life threatening isn't it!?"

"Only if you don't treat it immediately.", the doctor answered. "I came up with it." Then the man engaged into a thoughtful pose, "Though it hasn't happened in Japan for nearly a centu-"

"So I have some kind of exotic disease now?"

Saji suddenly slapped a hand over Issei's loud mouth with a shush. "Quiet. Minako is still sleeping."

Issei nodded in frightened understanding from the glare Saji was giving him. The other young man slipped a blanket over the dozing girl and sighed, "Really. You should be thankful we even helped you make an excuse."

Issei drooped helplessly, "Excuse me if I just wished to not be gawked at like some sort of circus freak due to circumstances out of my control."

"You do well enough with circumstances in your control.", Saji pointed out the vile view of women on Issei due to his perverted reputation.

"Grhk.", Issei flinched back from the truth. Indeed, women saw his existence as the plague, one of the reason he quickly jumped onto the Yuuma bandwagon the second she asked him to be her boyfriend. He turned his gaze over to the sleeping form of Minako. She was the only one to befriend him properly, even knowing what kind of pervert he was before deciding to be his friend. She was really one of a kind, now that he thought about it.

The injured youth's eyes lingered on the girl's peeking bandages. Her wounds must've been worse than hers. It was amazing how she could walk around now before he could when the last time he saw her she was...

He suddenly remembered the moment just before he passed out. "Oh.", Issei exclaimed lightly. Both of them had been so badly injured that neither could move. Minako had actually passed out before he did. Who could have brought them to this clinic?

Issei turned to Saji. Only he could be Issei and Minako's common benefactor. "Thanks for getting us to the hospital Saji.", the injured youth thanked from the bottom of his heart.

The other young man was busy fixing up a vase of flowers. "Don't thank me.", he intoned, back facing Issei. "I wouldn't even have known you two were so badly hurt until she carried you in to the store bleeding all over the place.", sounds of snapping stems cracked in the near silent room. "You should thank her."

The grateful expression on Issei's face suddenly took on one of wonderment and horror. Minako had carried him out of the park and back to the convenience store. And with wounds like hers... he couldn't imagine how bad it must've hurt.

"It was actually amazing to see the two of you still alive.", the doctor suddenly chimed in. He rubbed at the beginnings of a goatee with interest a few intensities short of glee. "Especially that girl.", the doctor pointed his chin over to Minako. "You had a punctured lung and a half-gone femur but amazingly both healed up within the week. Though not completely you can see that you're not drowning without machines being attached to you and your leg doesn't have metal plates screwing your bones into one coherent piece." The doctor paused and jumped a few pages in his charts. "She was no less remarkable herself. Punctured stomach, abdominal muscles and liver. Her spine had shown signs of violent disturbance and severance of a kidney. Punctured shoulder and heavy cuts interspersed through much of her body. Her bleeding wounds had shown signs of cauterization and tearing, likely due to the stress she put on them after getting injured. Not to mention the combined amount of blood lost by you two should've killed over five people already." The doctor shook his head. "I'd be reporting this to the medical community already if the whole thing weren't so preposterous."

He continued to rant on but Issei wasn't listening anymore. He shifted his gaze from Minako to the hand that hit Raynare through a few hundred meters of foliage. He and Minako were miracle cases by the standards of the normal. But this wasn't normal, Issei knew this wasn't normal. Raynare with her wings, claiming to be a fallen angel. Minako pulling out that lamp post easy as picking daisies. And himself punching a woman into the horizon. This wasn't normal, but it wasn't a miracle either. Something was changing, and he had to figure it out.

"Oh yes, before I forget again, this is your hospital bill."

A sheaf of papers was shoved into Issei's hands and he gave the doctor the stink eye for such rough treatment. Once he turned to the bill, his face turned white as the sheets covering him.

* * *

Genshirou Saji walked out the Haguro Clinic with a bitter taste in his mouth. He had just come from visiting his friend and her bone-headed companion. His lips drew taut into a tight line.

_Issei Hyoudou_

Foremost pervert of Kuoh highschool and regular punching bag of his friend Minako Arisato. Why were they so hurt when they appeared at the store? Why were they together? Minako hadn't explained anything and just asked for his help. It was just good luck on their part they knew this one doctor who didn't mind keeping things hush hush, because if Minako didn't want to tell him what happened, Saji doubted she would tell doctors or anyone else.

It also helped that this practitioner was also good. Despite claiming the two injured teens as miracle cases, he had done a pretty amazing job helping them along as well. There wasn't a time when the doctor looked at his wits end, just really focused. Even though he claimed to be strictly a veterinarian.

Still, back to Issei. Saji wasn't happy about the young man's appearance. Especially not in such a dangerous situation. What if the cause of their injuries was Issei himself? Saji didn't want to think about it. Minako had come around a few hours after her operation and spoken to him the day after. The three of them had cut classes and Saji was tasked with making excuses of their absence stick. This meant that Minako and Issei were usually alone in the clinic for practically the whole week. That wouldn't have been a problem normally, but why was Minako sitting vigilantly at Issei's bedside? Why did she look so broken up about that stupid pervert?

Even when he went to visit her, she was curled up against his bed, likely after another sleepless night of watching over the male brunette. It irked Saji for many reasons, but mostly it angered him because he didn't think Issei Hyoudou deserved it. Didn't deserve Minako's attention.

She was sweet, he was crass. She was caring, he lacked tact. She was innocent and he had all the perverseness of a convicted criminal.

Saji didn't know what happened, so he didn't dare speak out. But in his heart he believed that Issei didn't deserve what Minako was showing him. He believed that Issei would only hurt his best friend. And there was no way he would ever let that happen.

At least, after this week, everything would go back to normal. Issei wouldn't be hanging around Minako anymore.

* * *

~_one week later~_

"You've got to be kidding me.", Saji shook his head disbelievingly as he stood at the entrance of the 24/7 branch he worked.

"Hmm?", In front of the sandy blonde was a familiar young man with dark brown spiky hair. He was wearing the 24/7 male uniform and mopping up the floors. "Oh Saji, you're late."

"Wh-... What are you doing here!?", Saji exploded.

"Ah! Saji-kun.", Minako appeared from the back room with a smile and a greeting. "Hm? Oh, I guess you know Issei-kun from school right?"

"We talked a few times during my stay at the clinic too.", Issei explained further. "Don't you remember?"

"Hmmm...", Minako pressed her index fingers to her temples and gently drilled at them like a child would. "I don't really remember. I know talking either to you or Saji, but never you two at the same time."

"Is that so?", Issei rubbed his chin.

That was because Saji had made it a point to avoid Issei, but that's besides the point. "Anyway, why is Issei-san wearing the store uniform?", he asked his fellow clerk.

"So it's that.", Minako paused in her childish action and pressed a finger to her chin. "Well... the doctor from Haguro clinic charged us the bill and I paid mine up. But Issei's bill was pretty big and he didn't want me to pay for him, neither did he want to ask his parents for money. So now he's working here part time to help pay for the bill. Everything works out well doesn't it?"

"No, it doesn't!", Saji practically screamed. His assumptions of Minako being safe and away from this pervert after that week completely shattered. "Why was he stationed here specifically? A two man shift is normal for such a slow traffic branch right?"

Minako gave a sheepish smile, "As it turns out, the higher ups saw Issei was also a Kuoh student like us and thought we'd get along easily. Not to mention this branch is close to the school."

"So it's like that huh?", Saji hung his head in despair.

Oblivious to all the doom and gloom around the blonde, Issei swung one arm over Saji's shoulder and happily announced, "Well, looks like we'll be working together from now on. I'll be counting on you senpai!"

Saji could only groan in disappointment.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **To all those who've read this far, thank you for your patronage. For those who came back to continue reading this fic, thank you for your support. This concludes Issei's introduction arc. Sorry if it was too long for such few events. I think there was a lot more emotion involved in Issei's relationship with Yuuma or Raynare than initially shown during their fake date. At some points it would appear that Yuuma did have feelings for Issei and truth is I would like to think she did. Though those emotions were not of love but more of possessiveness, that Issei is hers. To her he is like a pet, or rather more like a toy. That's why on some level I wanted to show she had some affection for him initially and yet has no problem tormenting him in the last part.

Anyway this was an update a long time coming but there were other random things popping up like Kantai Collection and real life. I've actually started a habit of writing long fics by the arc. That's why the chapters come in groups now rather than one at a time. I don't know why but I think it helps my productivity. Maybe.

For all of you disappointed with the fighting Minako showed, I understand that it might be a deal breaker for you. But I'm the kind of person who always has a plan, and always has a head canon/plot related reason why certain characters don't use their full power. For Minako, she can't. She just plain can't.

In the current meta of my understanding, there is absolutely nothing in the DxD universe that can match up to the Universe. Or at least how the Universe Arcana works in my head. That is one reason why she cannot use her persona. The second reason is that using her persona will cause dire repercussions to her. To those in the know, she lost a lot in her own timeline. This time it might be just worse. Third reason is because her persona ability is sealed by a mechanic that exists inside the persona lore. If you can figure it out then I congratulate you.

Overall, I still plan to have Minako use her persona abilities in their full splendor during her personal arc. But until then, the people will have to be patient. Instead, I'll be focusing on other aspects of her that I believe make her awesome. Like for instance, her naginata yamato nadeshiko-fu. I want her to display the same leadership skills that got SEES through Tartarus as well as her awesome charisma in social settings.

If you're wondering why she has super strength and endurance despite having her persona abilities sealed. All I can say is that it's related to what allowed her into the world of Highschool DxD. It's also the reason why none of the *overpowered* equipments show up.

Anyway, the next arc will also be a character introduction arc. Hope you guys enjoy it. You can probably guess who gets the personal arc treatment next anyway. It will coincide with saving Asia arc.


End file.
